Five people yesterday appeared in court on various charges including attempted murder, drug possession, trafficking and theft.

Simon Deguara, 26, from Naxxar and Kevin Fiorini, 25, from Paola were charged with being in possession of ecstasy, heroin, cannabis resin, cocaine and LSD. They were also charged with trafficking ecstasy and cannabis resin.

They were caught in possession of the drugs during raids carried out by members of the Police Drug Squad.

Meanwhile, a 30-year-old Libyan was charged with the attempted murder of a man from Tarxien early yesterday morning. Nasreddin Drawil, who resides in St Paul’s Bay, was also accused of slightly injuring the victim as well as disturbing the public peace.

Also, Aaron Steven Ritchie, 21, born in the UK and residing in Paola and Etienne Buttigieg were accused by Inspector Mario Tonna of committing various thefts early yesterday morning.

The two were accused of stealing items worth more than Lm500 but less than Lm1,000 in St Julian’s as well as handling stolen goods. Ritchie and Buttigieg were also accused of relapsing in view of a previous convictions.

Magistrate Silvio Meli presided over the court in all proceedings. All accused were denied bail and are being held in preventive custody at the Corradino Correctional Facility.