Updated 5.40pm - Added police statement

Around 30 people were arrested this morning on suspicions of being involving in a cockfighting betting ring, police have confirmed. 

The arrests were made on a farm in tal-Ħandaq, limits of Qormi. 

Animal Welfare officials were called to the scene to tend to animals recovered during the operation, police said. 

Police did not exclude arraigning some of the suspects in court later today.

Cockfighting is a blood sport that involves two roosters battling it out in a ring, with spectators often betting money on the outcome. While not all fights are to the death, animals endure significant physical trauma. 

In Europe, the blood sport is only legal in the Spain's Andalusia and Canary Islands autonomous community, and in a small number of French towns which claim to have an uninterrupted tradition of cockfights.