Two men were yesterday charged with stealing over €1,000 worth of copper wire from an outdoor storage area of the Malta Shipyards in Marsa, which they accessed by climbing down a height of two storeys.

Portuguese national Paulo De Costa Osario, 43, and Johann Joseph Spiteri, 33, who both live in Fgura, pleaded not guilty to stealing the wire and handling stolen property on various occasions.

Mr De Costa Osario was also charged with resisting police arrest.

The two men were caught red handed by police officers pat­rolling the area on Friday at about 10.30 p.m.

Magistrate Gabriella Vella remanded both men in po­lice custody.

Police Inspectors Jurgen Vella and Spiridione Zammit prosecuted.

Lawyer Joseph Ellis was defence counsel.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.