A Colombian national who died after being beaten in Paceville was attacked when he stood up for a woman his two assailants were pestering, the Times of Malta has learnt.

The two prime suspects, both Libyans, were arrested in Gozo yesterday after almost a week on the run. They were found during a police raid on an apartment in San Lawrenz after residents noted suspicious movements, sources said. On Wednesday, the police issued a public call for information on the wanted men.

Zyad Mohamed Drebeka, 23, and Ahmed Rasem Franko, 29, were found hidden in wardrobes, situated in the basement of an apartment block. An amount of cannabis and drug-related items were also found.

The sources said that according to the foreign woman’s account, the Libyan men attacked Carlos Augusto, 37, who was in Malta to study English, when he told them to leave her alone.

He first suffered a blow to his head with what is believed to have been a glass, followed by repeated punches to his head. The sources said CCTV footage clearly showed Mr Augusto being punched repeatedly. The first blow was dealt to Mr Augusto inside a nightclub before bouncers threw them outside, where the “onslaught” continued.

Mr Augusto lost a considerable amount of blood and was then rushed to Mater Dei Hospital’s Intensive Therapy Unit where he fought for his life for three days before he succumbed to his injuries on Sunday.

An autopsy on Monday was “inconclusive”, according to the police, who said more tests were required to establish precisely the cause of death.

The police, who had been looking for the two suspects since the night of the incident, intensified their investigations and the search on Sunday when Mr Augusto passed away and so they now had a possible murder case on their hands.

The police received a number of tip-offs throughout Tuesday and again yesterday morning when they were told the wanted men had been spotted in the vicinity of Żurrieq, on the way down to Għar Lapsi. Several police cars scrambled to the area but searches yielded no results.

The search then moved to another location in the south, following yet another tip off. In the meantime, the Gozo police received information about “something suspicious” going on in a block of flats in Triq Wileġ, in San Lawrenz. The sources said that when the two suspects were apprehended they offered little resistance and were arrested and taken to the lock up in Victoria, from where they were later transferred to the police headquarters in Floriana for interrogation. They are expected to be arraigned and charged with murder today.

Mr Franko, who has a pending case over the attempted rape of a Swedish woman in January last year, is also expected to face charges related to a breach of bail conditions.