A man jailed over a haul of jewellery and gold yesterday told a court that his friends all dealt in drugs when asked if any of them were involved in selling gold.

Ryan Debattista, 23, gave the remarkable answer while being cross-examined by lawyer Michael Sciriha, whose client, George Tabone is pleading not guilty to buying the stolen jewellery.

Testifying, a raspy-voiced Mr Debattista said he, his 52-year-old father Glen and their friend Carmel Hartley, 40, had stolen some €350,000 worth of gold and jewellery last year from Pjazza Antiques in South Street, Valletta.

He said that most of the items were priced so the next day they split up the loot according to those values.

Some two weeks later, his father told him he had gone to Mr Tabone’s shop to sell his share but when asked if he knew for a fact that he did so, Mr Debattista said he could not say for certain.

When asked by Dr Sciriha if he had any friends who sold gold, Mr Debattista quite plainly said no – they all worked in drugs.

Asked how many criminal cases he already had at such a young age, Mr Debattista could not give an amount and said he did not keep records.

In the next sitting, a representative of Transport Malta is expected to testify to confirm a taxi in which a CCTV tape from Mr Tabone’s shop was found belonged to murdered man Matthew Zahra.

Mr Zahra’s body was found in a field in Birżebbuġa last month after he was reported missing a year before.