Updated with court arraignment, sentencing

Four Romanian thieves who admitted to stealing thousands of euros worth of clothing from a string of shops were today jailed for three years.

Ilie Nicolae, 28, Niculae Dragos, 22, Dumitru Marius, 26, and Christian Panaitescu, 25, pleaded guilty to 14 counts of theft from shops in Sliema and St Julians, the Point shopping centre, Bay Street shopping complex in the past month.

Another man, Marian Panaitescu, 26, of Romania, pleaded guilty to the sole charge of handling stolen items and was given a three-year conditional discharge.

A sixth Romanian, 27-year-old Niculae Florica, was the only man who denied all the charges of theft and was remanded in preventive custody.

The six men were arrested on Friday evening after the owner of Diesel and Levi’s, Leonard Cassar, recognised them from closed camera footage of his stores where they stole around €1,000 worth of clothing two weeks previously.

Angry at the spate of thefts that was hitting Sliema shops, Mr Cassar quickly grabbed two men outside the shop, tricking them that he was a police officer and dragged them into the shop where he locked them up. The police arrived in 10 minutes and arrested the men.

Police Inspector Saviour Baldacchino prosecuted. Lawyer Yana Micallef Strafrace appeared for the men as legal aid.

The fear they could be armed was replaced with anger that they were stealing from me

Mr Attard said that two of the men had walked into the shop, while another two waited a few steps away, close to the fountain in St Anne’s Square.

“I was adamant they were not going to get away this time – the fear they could be armed was replaced with anger that they were stealing from me,” he told The Sunday Times.

Mr Cassar’s security cameras clearly showed on the previous Saturday one man stuffing a pair of shoes inside his bag. Another clip showed a man grabbing two leather jackets and heading to the changing rooms – he emerged casually five seconds later with nothing in his hands but a bulging bag. With no time to spare and adrenaline pumping, Mr Cassar jumped out of a car, grabbed the two men outside by their arms, informed them he was a policeman and dragged them inside his shop. He then signalled to his son to quickly lock up the shop and call the police.

Fearing they would brandish a weapon, he remained in the role of an officer and ordered the men to go down to the basement and sit on the floor with their hands in full view.

One of the men started playing up and, worried he would spring an attack, Mr Cassar decided to separate him from the rest and took him upstairs to the changing room, while his son stood on guard. Luckily, the police were on the scene within 10 minutes and arrested the men.

Mr Cassar then accompanied the police to the men’s rented apartment in Paceville where they found mounds of clothes of different brands – stock running into thousands of euros – that had been stolen from numerous shops in Sliema, St Julian’s and Valletta.

“I felt I had to speak out and expose these men because there are numerous Romanians swindling shops and getting away with it. They’re very professional and shop owners should be on the lookout,” Mr Cassar warned.

The men usually work in pairs to distract the salespersons and carry sling bags lined with foil to stop the shop alarms from going off. They are stealing anything from leather jackets to shoes and branded jeans.

Police confirmed the Romanians, who are in their 20s, are expected to be charged in thecoming days.

Sources close to the investigation confirmed this racket has been going on for a while, with a rise in crime witnessed in the past months.

“Authorities fear this issue will escalate to such proportions that we’ll have the same problem Italy has on its hands,” the sources said, referring to the helplessness Italian law enforcers faced in tackling thefts by the Roma gypsies.

Due to the borderless Schengen agreement, Romanians are moving freely between European countries, making the work of police to track them down doubly hard.

“These Romanians are generating fear among retail outlets and authorities have no control over them. Once police charge them, chances are they will be given bail and they’ll be back on the streets again,” the sources said, urging everyone to be vigilant.

Another shop owner who was targeted by the same Romanians in St Julian’s said the law did not serve as a deterrent for these “ruthless” men.

“Unfortunately, these criminals are giving Romanians a bad name. Our concern as shop owners is that once police do their work and then, when the case goes to court, they get a suspended sentence and are back to haunt us.”