A Romanian man, Geani Roberto Marin, 30, was accused in court today of  stealing clothes from shops in Sliema and relapsing after committing similar crimes a few weeks ago.

Georgina Elena Chiuc, 21, was accused of being an acocmplice.

Both pleaded not guilty.

Police Inspector Trevor Micallef said that the two,  were part of a group of Romanian gypsies who were causing a nuisance all over Sliema and St Julian's.

He said that whenever members of this group were arrested, the rate of crime in those localities went down.

Lawyer Anthony Farrugia said that this was an attack on a group of European citizens. Just because they were Romanian, the inspector wanted to hold them on remand.

Replying, Inspector Micallef said that he was not a racist and did not want to sound racist, but statistics showed that he was correct about this crime.

He said this case first came to light when the owner of a rented apartment sought police assistance after he was not paid by the accused, who were the tenants. The police went to the apartment and found the stolen items.

They found a top stolen from Sisley in Sliema, jeans from One Fashion and a Sony Ericsson mobile phone stolen from an individual.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke remanded them in custody.