Family of thieves charged with €150,000 theft from interconnector tunnel

A father and his two sons have been granted bail after they denied stealing €150,000 worth of electricity cables from the interconnector .

Police Inspectors Saviour Baldacchino and Spiridione Zammit arraigned 44-year-old Ghaxaq resident Keith Joseph Mallia and his two sons, aged 17 and 16, before magistrate Audrey Demicoli this morning.

The three were charged with a string of thefts from the Msida, Maghtab and St. Andrew's interconnector access points in October last year.

In addition, the trio were charged with robbing a food processing facility in Marsa no less than three times in the last three months of 2015, with a fourth attempt being thwarted and the men arrested by the police.

Keith Joseph Mallia has been in and out of the courts over the past seventeen years, on a variety of criminal charges. The men were also charged with recidivism in view of their previous convictions. Mallia's eldest son alone was additionally charged with breaching a probation order.

The father was also charged with failing to observe previous bail conditions, committing a crime during the operative period of two suspended sentences.

Magistrate Demicoli granted the men bail against an individual €2,500 personal guarantee. The father was additionally required to deposit €500 in court.

Lawyers Veronique Dalli and Dean Hili were defence counsel to the men. Lawyer Arthur Azzopardi appeared on behalf of Tenderfresh Ltd of Marsa.