The second suspect in the Sliema double murder case has been identified as Viktor Dragomanski.

He was arrested after a dramatic rooftop chase in Gżira on Wednesday evening. 

Acting on a tip-off, the police surrounded the property and then swooped in on the suspect who was hiding in a hotel. As soon as he realised he had been surrounded, Dragomanski, who works as a bouncer in a Paceville nightclub, took to the roof and a chase ensued. 

He was quickly apprehended, handcuffed and escorted to police headquarters in Floriana. Police sources said the suspect, from North Macedonia, who has been in Malta for a couple of years, lived in Sliema. 

News of his arrest came as the police were preparing to charge the first suspect, Daniel Muka, 25, from Albania. He was arraigned before Magistrate Nadine Lia and pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him. 

He was charged with involvement in the murders of Sliema resident Christian Pandolfino and his partner Ivor Maciejowski.

They were shot dead on August 18 in what is believed to have been a four-minute operation.

Six shots were fired from a 9mm handgun, which is believed to have been recovered during Tuesday’s police raid on a property in Floriana where Duka was arrested. 

Two Maltese men, who were held by police when they arrested Muka, were released without charge. 

Muka spent most of Wednesday under police interrogation. He insisted he was not the brains behind the crime.  

The 25-year-old Albanian, who worked as a car washer, was out on bail over two cases he is facing in court.

In one case he stands charged, along with his brother, with the violent robbery of some €333,000 worth of jewellery in an armed hold-up at Diamonds International in Tigné Point in 2017.

He is separately charged with the attempted murder of two police officers whom he allegedly tried to shoot during his arrest a week after the robbery.