Monday, May 28, 2018,
07:02 by Ivan Martin
Thousands of rare and protected
birds were being sold to poachers, restaurants
A bird-smuggling racket between
Malta and parts of Italy has been dismantled by the Italian police and the EU’s
law enforcement arm.
Europol said thousands of rare
and protected birds were being sold to poachers and restaurants across Italy as
part of a smuggling network that also had ties to Malta.
The organised group behind the
crime, from Reggio Calabria in southern Italy, was uncovered by the
Carabinieri’s anti-poaching unit in cooperation with the Calabrian Police and
Europol.
Nine people – all Italian –
have been arrested on suspicion of belonging to a criminal network aimed at
illegally trading protected wildlife – mostly songbirds. They are believed to
have smuggled thousands of song birds into Malta, with a value estimated at
more than €400,000.
“In recent years the criminal
group built up a network of illegal buyers and sellers of protected birds in
Italy and Malta,” Europol said.
Maltese police sources meanwhile
said the racket had long been going on in Malta and seizures of shipments were
made by the local authorities from time to time.
“This is something we are aware
of. Birds are brought to the island illegally from Sicily and sold as lures or
for aficionados,” the sources said.
In 2016, five Maltese men were
detained in Sicily after they were caught trying to smuggle scores of finches
in atrocious conditions.
When they were intercepted by
police between Modica and Ragusa, the hunters were believed to have captured
more than 500 birds.
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