The Shadow Lounge in Paceville. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

A police sergeant charged with stealing money from a man searched during a drugs check “disappeared” momentarily be-fore returning with less than half the original amount, a court heard yesterday.

Police Constable Tarek Sheikh told the court about a search he carried out in the toilets of Shadow Lounge in Paceville together with the accused, Sergeant Luke Bugeja Persiano, and two other officers, PC Frederick Pizzuto and WPC Felicia Mamo.

As WPC Mamo waited outside, they walked into the men’s toilets and, being in plain clothes, they identified themselves as policemen, he said.

PC Sheikh noticed that the door of one of the cubicles was slightly open and he pushed it to see if there was anyone inside.

A man began shouting in Italian that the cubicle was occupied but the officer pushed harder to see what he was doing: the panic in the man’s voice made it sound to the officer like he was hiding something.

The man, Aldo Zambruno, was told to put his arms up and away from his pockets to ensure that he did not take anything from them.

PC Sheikh said he put his hands into the man’s pockets and pulled out a wad of cash which he handed over to Sergeant Persiano, who asked him what the money was.

Mr Zambruno told them that he had won it at a casino.

He then became very agitated and began resisting and shouting. At that point WPC Mamo walked in to see if they needed assistance.

She searched the cubicles and in the one next door to where Mr Zambruno was found she picked up a white sachet of drugs, PC Sheikh said.

When Mr Zambruno saw this he became very angry, saying the sachet was not his.

They decided to arrest him and took him downstairs in a lift with three security guards from the nightclub.

They counted out about €1,300 but Mr Zambruno said he had €3,000

Once outside in the street, they released Mr Zambruno who asked where the sergeant was with his money and mobile phone.

PC Sheikh said he looked around and could not see the accused but Sergeant Persiano arrived a minute later and handed him the phone and cash.

Mr Zambruno immediately told him that he had far more money than that. They counted out about €1,300 but Mr Zambruno said he had €3,000.

There were uniformed policemen nearby who wanted to know what the commotion was and these officers searched their colleagues.

As the search began, the accused disappeared again before returning for a second time.

The case continues.