Three burglars who barged into a Gżira house early Thursday morning threatened two women they would slit their throats and burn them alive if they called the police.

“There were three men. They asked for cash and drugs but we had none. One was Maltese and the other two seemed to be of Arab origin,” one of the women, 68, said, her hand trembling.

“One of the foreigners told us they would slit our throat like a lamb if we caused trouble for them and called police. The Maltese man told us he would burn us alive. Since it happened I’ve been shaken and feeling unsafe.”

The woman sat on a chair just behind the dusty metal main door through which the burglars stormed into her small house in Triq il-Ġnien at about 4am.

Insisting she did not want to be named – fearing further repercussions – she pointed towards the single bed, located underneath the stairs, in the hallway. “I was dozing off there when it happened,” she said.

They wanted cash and drugs. We told them we did not have any. I barely have enough money to buy tea

The other woman, a 41-year-old prostitute, was standing at the door waiting for clients, who she would then take upstairs.

Suddenly, she heard the older woman call her and, seconds later, the prostitute was pushed into the hallway, while the three men walked into the tight space.

“They wanted cash and drugs. We told them we did not have any. I barely have enough money to buy tea,” she said.

The men started rummaging through the house.

They had a knife and took another two small knives from underneath the stairs, where there was a makeshift kitchen and a TV set crammed in, the younger woman said, adding that one of the men rummaged through her handbag and took her mobile phone, €50 in cash and keys.

The men waived the knives around to scare them, she said.

“They hit the other woman. She told them to leave, not to hurt us and to take her car instead,” she said, adding they then left and warned them not to call the police.

The police were alerted and a 15-year-old male from St Paul’s Bay was arrested shortly after.

Two males, aged 19 and 22 and both born in Libya, were arrested later, and the three were ar-raigned yesterday and charged with theft, slightly injuring a person and holding two people against their will. They were remanded in custody.