A delivery man was held at gun point, tied up and thrown in the back of his van while 25 boxes of cigarettes were transferred from one vehicle to another, a police inspector told a court yesterday.

Inspector Silvio Valletta was testifying in the compilation of evidence against Otis Cassar, 35, from Hamrun, accused of committing a hold-up earlier this month.

The inspector said the hold up took place on 8 November at about 11.30am in Swieqi.

When he arrived at the scene of the crime, he spoke to David Grech, a delivery man with Arrigo Group Ltd.

Inspector Valletta said Mr Grech told him he had seen a blue van and a red car before he was forced to stop driving. A man then got out of the red car, a Mazda 121, went up to the delivery man and pointed a gun at his head, said the inspector, adding that Mr Grech’s aggressor then used tie clips to bind his wrists and put him in the back of his van.

He then drove Mr Grech’s delivery van, bringing it back to back with the blue van, and transferred 25 boxes of cigarettes, worth about Lm15,000 (EUR34,940) from one vehicle to the other.

The blue van and red car then drove off, said the inspector, adding that an eye-witness, Andrew Strickland, had taken note of their registration numbers and then went to untie the delivery man’s wrists.

Inspector Valletta said the blue van was registered to Priscilla Cassar, the accused’s sister. Mr Cassar was arrested that same night, but was questioned the following morning since he was drunk.

The accused denied his involvement in the hold-up, said Inspector Valletta, adding that both the delivery man and the eye-witness had recognised the accused as the man driving the blue van in an identification parade.

Police investigations showed the robbers were not wearing hoods. The second alleged robber, Emmanuel Farrugia, who was driving the red car, is undergoing separate court proceedings.