A couple facing drug trafficking charges was robbed of more than €2,000 in jewellery just a few weeks before they were arrested, a court case held on Saturday revealed. 

Morat Abdikabir Mohammed and Judith Bakoush were the victims of a burglary at their residence on Old Hospital Street, Valletta on the morning of August 7. 

The 8am robbery ended with a fight that spilled over into the street outside. Mohammed was slightly injured in that scuffle. 

Police apprehended one of the alleged assailts, Adnan Saed, a 29-year-old Libyan national with no fixed address, while the other got away and remains at large.

Saed appeared in court on Saturday to face charges of aggravated theft, slightly injuring Mohammed, attempted grievous bodily harm and carrying a knife without police licence. 

Saed is also suspected of being involved in a separate incident in Sliema’s Qui-Si-Sana on August 10. Police have charged him with unlicensed possession of firearm, insulting and threatened a third party, breaching the peace and relapsing in that case.

He is pleading not guilty to all charges but did not request bail when he appeared in court on Saturday and was remanded in custody by magistrate Ian Farrugia. 

The robbery victims, Mohammed and Bakoush, wound up with legal problems of their own just weeks after being the victims of the robbery. On Wednesday, the two were charged with drug trafficking following a large-scale police raid at their Valletta property that yielded sachets of crack cocaine. Both are pleading not guilty. 

Inspectors Lydon Zammit, Stephen Gulia and Jonathan Ransley prosecuted. 

Lawyers Charles Mercieca and Gianluca Caruana Curran represented Saed. Lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb appeared for Mohammed and Bakoush, parte civile.