A man allegedly caught slipping his hand into a woman's purse by a plain-clothes police officer has been denied bail. 

Sabin Daniel Talpas, 41, was arraigned under arrest over the alleged pickpocketing incident which happened yesterday afternoon at St James’s Ditch, Floriana, right at at the bus terminal.

A sharp-sighted officer allegedly noticed Mr Talpas dip his hand into the handbag of a woman waiting to board a bus. 

When he stopped him, Mr Talpas allegedly sped off with the officer close on his heels, until he was finally captured some distance away close to a Floriana hotel.

During his arraignment, Mr Talpas pleaded not guilty and requested bail, with defence lawyer Anthony Farrugia arguing that arrest, rather than freedom, was to be provisional.

READ: Pickpocketing cases increase sixfold in eight years

His client was presumed innocent and intended to forcefully contest the charges, Dr Farrugia argued.

However, prosecuting officer Inspector Jeffrey Scicluna, countered that there were doubts as to the address supplied by the man to the police. When accompanied to the residence, the man had apparently confused the entrance door.

Moreover, the suspect had been carrying a bag full of personal possession which appeared to indicate that he had no fixed residence in Malta, the inspector continued.

Dr Farrugia rebutted this by saying his client had just travelled to Malta to see his girlfriend and was not familiar with the place, but the explanation was not enough to convince duty magistrate Ian Farrugia.

The request for bail was turned down, with the magistrate urging the prosecutor to ensure that all evidence would be brought within the first sitting once the case was assigned to the court presiding over Valletta district cases.

Before the arraignment kicked off, Inspector Jeffrey Scicluna had explained in open court that the country was currently facing a rising wave of such instances of simple theft, with many of the culprits believing they could get off with a suspended sentence.

“This time I’m going to insist on an effective jail term in case of a conviction because we must send out a message that this has to stop,” inspector Scicluna declared.