28-year-old Fabio Psaila, from Hamrun, who has been on the run since 3 December, is expected to be arraigned in court this morning after he turned himself in on Sunday evening, police sources said yesterday.

Mr Psaila is alleged to be one of three aggressors who attempted a hold-up on 52-year-old jeweller Michael Mizzi in Attard earlier this month, but which was botched when the jeweller’s son, 25-year-old Silvio, snatched a gun from one of the aggressors and shot one of them in the leg.

Mr Psaila was also injured in the hold-up, and was taken to hospital on Sunday shortly after turning himself in.

The injured aggressor turned out to be Darren Debono, 33, who, together with Vincent Muscat, 48, stands charged with the attempted murder of a police constable in another attempted armed robbery – that which took place at the HSBC Centre in Qormi on 30 June. Mr Psaila was also questioned at the time by the police as part of their investigations, but has not been charged.

On 6 December the police released a statement and urged anyone who has any information about Mr Psaila’s whereabouts to contact them.

In the statement, the police said they were looking for Mr Psaila because he is wanted in connection with investigations relating to “serious crimes”.

He was some years ago jailed for four years by a Sicilian court which found him guilty of drug trafficking charges following his arrest in Sicily.

According to witnesses testifying in the compilation of evidence against David Gatt, a former Police Inspector turned lawyer, who also stands accused of serious crimes, in which Mr Psaila has been implicated, Dr Gatt is said to have referred to Mr Psaila as his “General”.

Dr Gatt had, earlier this year, defended Mr Psaila in court, when the latter faced charges related to car theft dating back to 1998. He was acquitted by Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera in April.

When contacted yesterday, the police would not confirm whether, as reported in the media, Mr Psaila was dressing up as a woman in order to fend off attention from the police, whether he was seen wondering in Marsa and St Paul’s Bay and would not say in which police station he turned himself in.