A homeless man was remanded in custody on Monday after he was arrested on suspicion that he stole a laptop from a Floriana office last week.

Evgeniy Petrov, a 33-year old Bulgarian national, was arraigned on Monday and  pleaded not guilty to the theft of the laptop, worth over €2,329, on January 19.

Police investigations also linked the man to another theft that allegedly took place in Republic Street, Valletta in the late hours of January 12 when a Polish man reported that his bag, containing his Sony Experia Z3 mobile phone, some €100 in cash as well as his passport, had been stolen.

Working on CCTV footage from the area of the reported thefts, as well as additional information supplied by a community police officer, investigators managed to identify Petrov as a suspect.

He was tracked down and interrogated over the thefts.

During his arraignment, Petrov pleaded not guilty to the two thefts, and also to leading an idle and vagrant life as well as begging for alms.

No request for bail was made.

Magistrate Ian Farrugia presided over the arraignment.

Inspector Priscilla Caruana Lee prosecuted.

Lawyer Anne Marie Cutajar was legal aid counsel.