Two men driving a car with no number plates in the middle of the night were arrested by police patrolling the area where a €150,000 jewellery theft had just taken place.

The two quick-thinking RIU officers testified on Friday when George Galea, 51, and 21-year old Keith Testa, both from Marsa, were charged with breaching various bail conditions when found outside their homes around 2:30am, well outside their court-imposed curfews.

The two constables, Frank Anthony Portelli and Philip Camilleri, explained how they responded to a call from the control room at around 1.30am on Wednesday night about a suspected robbery from an Attard jewellery store.

The two officers soon reached the site and confirming that a robbery had indeed taken place.

Some €150,000 in jewellery were allegedly stolen.

The thieves had already fled the scene.

But as the duo began to patrol the area, they spotted a pair of shoes right in the middle of Mdina Road, Attard.

Whilst scouring the area and relaying the information to their superiors, a grey Chevrolet driven by a male with another person seated as passenger, went by.

The car had no number plates, neither at the front nor back.

That in itself, coupled with the fact that it was being driven in the middle of the night in the vicinity of the reported robbery, roused suspicion.

The officers promptly intervened, forcing the driver to stop in the area close to the roundabout leading to Saqqajja hill.

Asked about the missing plates, the men inside the Chevrolet replied that those were lost.

A personal search of the two suspects yielded nothing, but the officers spotted a knife, tucked away in the door on the passenger side where Testa had been seated.

The officers relayed the men’s personal details to their superior at the Bkara police station who confirmed that both Galea and Testa were “outside curfew hours.”

A closer search inside the vehicle yielded several items which roused police suspicions even further.

The witnesses listed two knives, a mallet, a pair of pliers, gloves, masks and screwdrivers, all discovered in the search.

Both driver and passenger were arrested.

Upon their arraignment on Friday, prosecuting Inspector Lydon Zammit explained that while investigations into the robbery continued he had been informed by a colleague handling that case, that so far there was no sufficient evidence linking Galea and Testa to the theft.

Consequently, the two were today arraigned only for the alleged breach of bail.

When questioned, Testa told police that on Wednesday night he had received a call from Galea inviting him to go along with him to Mgarr where Galea was expected to call for his daughter.

Since he “was fed up at home,” Testa decided to tag along.

But that excuse did not make sense to the police.

Galea, on the other hand, who had just been granted bail by the Criminal Court last month, gave no explanation.

Both were charged with breaching bail decrees, while Galea was also charged with driving a car with no number plates.

Both were charged with relapsing.

They pleaded not guilty.

After hearing the police testimonies, the Court, presided over by magistrate Gabriella Vella, remanded the accused in custody.

Inspectors Lydon Zammit and Stephen Gulia prosecuted.

Lawyers Franco Debono and Francesca Zarb were counsel to Galea.

Lawyer Mario Caruana was legal aid counsel to Testa.