Two pickpockets who stole tourists’ bank cards as they toured the narrow streets of Rabat were jailed on Wednesday after they pleaded guilty to committing the crime.

Andrei Nistor, 51, and 38-year-old Lucian Serban, both from Romania, appeared in court charged with stealing bank cards belonging to two tourists in Rabat earlier this month. Nistor alone was also charged with relapsing.

The two men pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him.

Prosecuting police inspector Godwin Scerri told Magistrate Charmaine Galea that the defendants had stolen around €200 in cash as well as bank cards.

In their submissions on punishment, defence lawyers Lennox Vella and Mark Mifsud Cutajar told the court that the men would be returning the stolen money.

But the magistrate warned that the men could not escape punishment – an effective prison term - simply because they pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity or because of their commitment to return the money they had stolen.

“We cannot allow thieves to avoid prison time simply because they returned what they had stolen,” the magistrate insisted.  

Serban was sentenced to imprisonment for three months. Given his recidivism, Nistor was jailed for six months.