Five men were spotted illegally trapping turtle doves in a fenced property directly beneath Mellieħa's Red Tower last Saturday, a bird conservation NGO said. 

The Committee Against Bird Slaughter said its activists captured more than two hours of footage of the five men activating a clap net more than 20 metres long, retrieving trapped birds from the net and placing them in a large aviary containing around 45 live turtle doves. 

But activists who reported the illegalities were left frustrated by police delays in meeting with them. 

"We called police at around 7.15am...but unfortunately they needed nearly two hours to meet with our team," CABS said in a statement. Shortly after the officers met with the CABS team, the trappers removed their net and stashed it in a bush.

READ: Poacher's accomplice is a police constable, say CABS

"It was obvious that they saw the police car or were tipped off," the NGO said. 

Police who searched the area failed to find a net or trapped birds. Officers from the Wild Bird Regulation Unit were more successful and retrieved the net from the bushes it had been stashed in. 

Birds trapped in the aviary were not released as police argued that there was not enough evidence they were caught from the wild, CABS claimed.  

According to CABS, one of the men "is a known poacher with at least two prior convictions related to illegal bird trapping and hunting as well as for threatening behaviour." The man is the property owner, the NGO added. 

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