One thousand protected finches have been freed back into the wild by the Italian police after they foiled an attempt to smuggle the prized birds to Malta on board a catamaran last month.

The finches were hidden in vegetable crates when they were discovered in a car, driven by an Italian, as it was boarding the Virtu Ferries catamaran in Pozzallo heading to Malta.

The 1,000 finches, which included serins and goldfinches, were squashed into crates 20cm high with no water. The crates were covered with a cloth to avoid detection.

The birds were confiscated by the police while the driver faced charges of animal abuse as well as the keeping and transporting of protected species illegally.

The smuggling attempt was one in a series discovered in October, ahead of the start of the finch trapping season in Malta.

In the same month, over 1,300 songbirds were discovered in different smuggling operations over three weeks, reflecting the illegal trade of protected birds spurred by the government’s decision to reintroduce trapping.

The smuggling of finches yields thousands of euros in income to the suppliers – a finch can easily fetch €100 to €250 in Malta when it is bought for close to nothing in Sicily.

The demand arises because live decoys are needed on trapping sites to lure birds in the wild with their song. That enables the trappers to capture a flock that lands on the net following the bird’s call.

The derogation (exemption) from the EU Birds Directive being implemented by the government, following years in which the trapping of songbirds was banned, created a demand for the protected birds, leading to their illegal smuggling from abroad.

The government decided to reopen the finch trapping season this year despite warnings from the European Commission on last year’s derogation. The Commission has in fact referred Malta to the European Court of Justice.