Three men were this afternoon sentenced to a two-year jail term suspended for four after they pleaded guilty to stealing €88,000 worth of cigarettes from Antonio Piscopo wines and spirits in Paola, where they used to work.

Victor Scerri, 47 and his 22-year-old son Manuel, both of Cospicua and Emanuel Meilak 21, of Kalkara were also ordered to pay back €29,000 each within six months.

Taking the witness stand, employer Tarcisio Piscopo told Magistrate Edwina Grima that the cigarettes were whittled away between Feb 1, 2012 and May.

Mr Meilak said he will be paying up on Monday while the Scerris were likely to seek an extension to the six-month period.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.