A Fairplay gaming outlet in St Paul’s Bay was again the target of a hold-up when an armed man took off with about €6,500 on Thursday night.
The gaming outlet, in Mosta Road, had been unsuccessfully targeted by robbers on June 14.
In a statement yesterday, the police said that at about 9.50pm on Thursday a knife-wielding thief threatened a 23-year-old shop employee and made off with the money. In the June 14 incident, a thief entered the gaming parlour at about 12.25pm wearing a helmet and brandishing what looked like a toy pistol.
He demanded money but the employee, also a 23-year-old man, resisted. The intruder assaulted the employee, hitting him in the face with the toy pistol and fled the scene in a car. The police mounted a search for the getaway car. They analysed closed-circuit television footage of the targeted parlour and neighbouring establishments.
Reno Azzopardi, 30, of Cospicua, and 45-year-old Domenic Fava, from St Paul’s Bay were arraigned three days later. They were charged with the attempted robbery and were remanded in custody after they pleaded not guilty.