Foul smell leads to gruesome discovery of animal skins

Customs officials at the airport have seized four pieces of luggage containing over 500 animal skins, including several rare species, in what they described as one of the largest hauls involving the illicit wildlife trade.

Sources said two persons were being questioned in connection with the case.

The discovery on Wednesday night, worth thousands of liri, was made after the suitcases - just arriving from Malpensa Airport in Milan on board an Alitalia flight - were found to be emitting a pungent smell.

The cases were left stranded on the conveyer belt and were not collected by any of the passengers. When Customs' enforcement unit officials scanned the luggage they realised it was packed with carcasses of animals, mainly birds.

The police administrative law enforcement unit was alerted and informed the duty magistrate about the case.

Some protected and very rare species were stacked in among the carcasses, including foxes, an Egyptian Mongoose, a Jungle Cat, eagles, ducks, egrets and a kingfisher.

Further investigations showed that the owners of the suitcases had arrived in Malta a few days earlier. Their point of origin was Cairo.

A Customs spokesman said the perpetrators probably had a short connection time and the bags never made it to the same flight. Realising they could land themselves in trouble, they never reported the lost luggage to the airline.

BirdLife Malta president Joseph Mangion said he hoped the haul would alert the authorities to the extent of the illicit wildlife trade and the number of bird poachers.

"We are very aware that individuals are trying to import birds and their skins from Cairo, as well as Eastern Europe. We're not saying that every hunter who goes to Cairo is breaking the law but we understand that the temptation is very great," he said.

Mr Mangion said such skins were likely used by taxidermists in a trade which often yielded big money. Imported eagles sell for up to Lm600 per specimen. Other birds, such as flamingos, greenfinches and storks, sell between Lm30 and Lm100.

Further investigations are being carried out by ALE Inspector Alex Miruzzi.