When Ramon Mizzi woke up to find police officers searching for a burglar in his garden he was convinced they had the wrong house – until he found the intruder hiding behind his living room sofa.

The trespasser was one of two men arrested by Rapid Intervention Unit officers on Tuesday after a series of thefts from private residences in Swieqi that same morning.

“While the police were searching my house, I noticed that the sofa in the living room, where I had spent the evening before watching television with my family, was out of place,” Mizzi told Times of Malta.

“I looked behind it and saw a man lying on the ground behind the displaced sofa.”

The bizarre incident began at around 5am, when Mizzi was scrolling through timesofmalta. com before preparing to walk his dog, Archie, while the rest of his family lay sleeping.

I noticed that the sofa in the living room was out of place

He looked outside his home in Triq il-Kejla and saw six police officers.

He ran downstairs and opened the door for the officers, who told them a neighbour had seen a man climb over his front gate that leads into the driveway and garden.

“I told the police there must be a mistake since I was inside and there was no one inside the house,” he said.

But they insisted – they had found a bag with some money and jewellery in the driveway close to the open kitchen window.

Not even Ramon Mizzi’s hunting dog, Archie, a weimaraner, heard the silent intruder enter their Swieqi home through a kitchen window early on Tuesday morning.

As the officers started searching the house, Mizzi noticed the displaced sofa and spotted the man behind.

“The intruder was extremely silent. Archie, our dog, would have barked a lot if it was downstairs when the intruder made his way in. But the intruder made no noise whatsoever. I was already awake and would have heard him myself if he did,” he said.

It later emerged that the burglar had entered the house from a small, concealed window in the kitchen that was left open.

“We were shocked. We have been living in this house for over 20 years. We never had any problems in this tranquil area. This has made us feel less safe now,” Mizzi, who is now beefing up security in his home, said.

The police officers arrested the unarmed man who spoke little Maltese.

“Thank God, in our case, he did not have the time to take anything,” Mizzi said.

“God knows what would have happened had the police not done such a great job. I would have probably come downstairs with my dog that would have sensed something and started barking. We would have been close to the kitchen where there are knives. God knows what would have happened,” he said.

“It was a harrowing experience. I was angry that someone broke into our house. But, at the same time, this man must have been desperate to do what he did.”