Birds freeze to death in smuggling bid

A man tried to export 136 song birds in six boxes by keeping them sedated together with frozen packets of seafood, only for a third of them to die from the cold.

Abdaljabar Alaadden Musbah, a 30-year-old Libyan, was on his way to Tripoli on March 5 when he was stopped at the airport. The two bags he was carrying were found to contain the birds in small boxes and surrounded by 17 frozen seafood packets. Due to the cold temperature, a third of them were found dead.

Mr Musbah yesterday admitted to animal cruelty.

Magistrate Saviour Demicoli handed down a 10-month jail term suspended for three years and fined him €699.