BirdLife challenges police over threatening messages

Reacting to a police statement that no infringements were found on the hunters' federation's website forum, BirdLife Malta yesterday released the text of a message referring to its Turkish executive director's head being "shot from a canon like Dragut... if he's not careful".

"I love this hobby so much that I am ready to kill for it," another post quoted by Birdlife said.

Last Tuesday, the police reacted to BirdLife's complaint about the fact that no apparent progress was made on investigations into threatening posts made on the FKNK's website. The police said they had found no abusive material on the federation's forum in an investigation carried out last October.

Questions on the matter sent to the police by The Times earlier this week remain unanswered. The conservation group insisted yesterday that, since its original report to the police, things have not changed. Recent messages were equally loaded and not just in respect to BirdLife.

"What can these dozen police do against 15,000 hunters," one recent message said. "If they do not open spring [we] protest and have to break everything out there as otherwise nothing will happen."

"BirdLife's turn will arrive - let them not hope they will get away with it, for the damage they caused us...they have not realised yet how much they will pay for it," another post said.

"We demand to know why the Police Commissioner claims that no infringements were found," BirdLife's executive director Tolga Temuge said, insisting that the police force should be able to identify easily anyone who is registered with a website forum.