Two men were remanded in custody today after pleading not guilty to stealing €3,500 in cash and music and sound equipment worth €5,000.

The theft allegedly took place from a car parked in School Street, Tarxien on Wednesday-Thursday night. The car belonged to Joel Caruana, of Tarxien.

The men, Ryan Camenzuli 25 and Victor DeGabriele, 26, both of Cospicua, were also accused of stealing a credit card and concert tickets.

Mr Camenzuli on his own was also accused of committing a crime during the operative period of a suspended jail term, while Mr DeGabriele was accused of breaching the condition of a previous release and also committing a crime during the term of a suspended sentence.

Defence counsel Michael Schriha and Mark Busuttil told the court that their clients were categorically denying that they were ever involved in these thefts and they had alibis which showed they were nowhere near the place of the alleged theft.

Inspector Spiridione Zammit said there were a number of witnesses to this crime. These two men were not trustworthy as evident from their criminal records, and they should therefore be remanded in custody.

Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia remanded them in custody after considering prosecution fears that evidence would be tampered with.