Four Maltese nationals were handed a suspended sentence of three months and 15 days after being found guilty of shoplifting while on holiday in northern Italy.
The case unfolded in rather dramatic circumstances when the four of them were apprehended by the Carabinieri while posing for a group photo in front of the iconic Arena di Verona on Monday.
Till then, a man in his 30s, together with three women, one in her 50s and two in their 20s, thought they had managed to escape scot-free after spending a week in Garda on a tour organised by Britannia Tours.
Their holiday ended abruptly, in more sense than one, when the Italian paramilitary police appeared and approached them, in the presence of the rest of the group.
Sources told Times of Malta that the ‘tourists’ were identified from CCTV footage in which they were seen stealing goods from a number of shops in the Verona city centre.
Apart from having the rest of the group witnessing their arrest, their deeds were further exposed when the stolen items were taken out one-by-one from their suitcases during a search operation on the spot.
All four were taken to a nearby police station for questioning and were prosecuted a few hours later.
In the meantime, the Maltese Embassy in Rome was alerted about the case and arrangements were made to repatriate them on the next available flight yesterday afternoon.
Verona-based newspaper L’Arena said the arrests were part of an operation to hunt down the perpetrators of a string of thefts from shops and other outlets.
In total, 11 arrests were made between Sunday and Monday, including the four Maltese, who were all charged with aggravat-ed theft.
The others were two Moroccan women who were caught stealing from a supermarket and a Romanian gang of five who were caught taking 280 litres of fuel from a tank belonging to a private company.
In a rather sarcastic comment posted below the news story, an Italian blogger described the Maltese as the good people who came to the rescue of distressed immigrants, with clear reference to the recent controversy surrounding the MT Salamis when Italy had to take all the irregular migrants rescued by the tanker.
Malta had refused entry to the tanker and the migrants were eventually hosted by Italy.