Smuggled live birds seized in Gozo

A large number of live birds were seized by the police as they were being landed in boxes from a boat at Mgarr ix-Xini, Gozo, after allegedly being imported illegally.

The police are questioning three men - two Gozitans and a Maltese - in connection with the case.

Police said that surveillance by the Police Drug Squad and the Gozo district police paid off late on Sunday evening when the three men were observed transferring a number of boxes from a boat onto the quay at Mgarr ix-Xini.

When the boxes were opened the police found a considerable number of birds, they said. The birds are being kept in quarantine.