A vegetable hawker was yesterday charged with skulking around a field at midnight and stealing greens from a farmer to later sell on his truck.

Paul Calleja, 57, from Mosta, allegedly stole the vegetables, including a large amount of artichokes, four times going back to last November from an area known as Xifer il-Kiel in Mġarr.

The case first came to light when Police Inspector Jason Sultana, Police Sergeant Claudio Coppola and Constable Edwin Attard stopped him as he was parking his truck in Sliema and he became aggressive, sources close to the case said.

Investigations suggested he had been stealing vegetables worth some €200 a time.

In his arraignment yesterday, Mr Calleja pleaded not guilty to violently resisting arrest, assaulting the officers, stealing the vegetables, handling stolen property and relapsing.

Lawyer Anġlu Farrugia requested bail but Inspector Sultana objected, arguing that two witnesses still had to testify.

Magistrate Antonio Micallef Trigona said that denying bail was the exception and not the rule and wanted to know who was teaching the inspectors to object to bail on these grounds.

He released Mr Calleja on a deposit of €500 and a personal guarantee of €5,000.