Skins of protected birds found in suitcases

Customs officials yesterday morning intercepted two suitcases containing over 200 skins of protected birds with a street value of around Lm8,000, according to sources.

Administrative Law Enforcement police were called and two men in their thirties from Zejtun and Zabbar were arrested in connection with the find.

The sources said the men were members of a group who were returning from a hunting trip in Egypt.

Among the skins found were those of white pelican, white stork, black stork, Egyptian vulture, spur wing plovers, kingfishers, great white egrets, eagle owl, spoonbills and long legged buzzard. The skins were ready to be stuffed and mounted.

The sources said most hauls of protected birds were intercepted towards the end of the hunting season in Egypt or in the summer months, when vigilance by customs is perceived to be lower because of the large number of passenger movements at the airport.

The influential nature magazine BBC Wildlife this month carried a story about Maltese hunters "decimating bird populations at Lake Nasser, near Abu Simbel and Lake Qarun in the Fayoum region".

BBC Wildlife reported that customs in Malta last year seized a total of 447 birds from Maltese hunters returning from Egypt. Birds of prey, protected internationally, topped the list of birds smuggled in by hunters. In one instance, Maltese customs seized 23 steppe eagles, nine ospreys and 11 eagle owls.

In the early 1990s, the Egyptian government banned Maltese hunters from going to hunt in Egypt following a campaign by BBC Wildlife. The magazine is urging letters of protest to be sent to the Egyptian government so that Maltese hunters would be controlled.

Police in Malta and Gozo have apprehended several hunters who were found hunting in the close season over the past two weeks.

Police sources said six would be charged in court shortly after they were found hunting at sea during the close season. Thirty dead ducks and shotguns were found by the police soon after some of the hunters hauled their boat ashore. The hunters tried to hide the guns and birds when they saw the police, the sources said.