Taped tortoises to jacket

A Libyan man tried to smuggle 30 tortoises into Malta taped to the inside of his jacket.

Jaloud Mahmud Omar, 27, from Tripoli, was yesterday given a suspended two-year jail term after pleading guilty to illegally importing a protected species last Monday and also to animal cruelty.

He told the police that the tortoises were very common in Libya and wanted to exchange them for canaries at a pet shop.

Before Magistrate Audrey Demicoli handed down sentence, Police Inspector Ramon Mercieca pointed out that the accused had cooperated with the police.