Five Eastern Europeans have been formally indicted over a series of recent thefts which fuelled alarm among Sliema, St Julian's, Gżira, St Paul's Bay and Pieta' residents.

The accused are Kartlos Dolaberidze, 41, from Georgia, Kryzsztof Tadeusz Latocha, 30, from Poland, Algirdas Sliogeris, 48, from Lithuania, Adilet Shakirgazieva, 28, from Kyrgyzstan and Mate Oniani, 25, from Georgia. They were arraigned on September 11 when they pleaded not guilty and were remanded in custody.

A court today decreed that it had seen sufficient evidence to indict them on charges relating to conspiring to commit a crime, participation in organised crime, forming part of a criminal organisation and receiving stolen goods.

Two officers described how they conducted CCTV and plain clothes surveillance operations in the Qawra area after a spate of similar thefts in the area. During the course of their investigations, one person had indicated a person that corresponded to someone seen on CCTV footage and directed the police to the apartment block where the arrests were eventually made.

Lawyer Joseph Mizzi, defending the five, argued that Mr Oniani and Ms Shakirgazieva should not have been made to face the same charges as the rest of the gang. He argued that both witnesses and the footage referred only to three men.

The defence said that the woman was only being linked to the organised crime gang because she shared a flat with them. He also pointed out that Mr Oniani had just arrived in Malta a day before the arrest, and so could not have been planning to commit such crimes.

Nevertheless, the court presided by Magistrate Josette Demicoli, denied this request, saying that sufficient prima facie evidence to place all the accused under a bill of indictment had been presented.