A 32-year-old man pleaded not guilty to 39 charges yesterday, including a string of violent thefts of the elderly in several localities.

Charles Farrugia, an unemployed man from Żejtun, was charged with 13 snatch-and-run and mugging incidents against elderly people in Tarxien, Santa Luċija, Mqabba, Paola, Żurrieq, Luqa, Gudja and Għaxaq between April 7 and 10.

According to the prosecution, he used a stolen Peugeot 106 to drive up close to elderly pedestrians and then snatch their belongings.

He was identified by the Criminal Investigation Department following crime mapping exercises and undercover surveillance, and was eventually caught red-handed in the act of setting fire to a car he had stolen to commit the robberies.

The man was also accused of breaching four separate sets of bail conditions and violently resisting arrest.

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