Smuggled songbirds have long been bought and sold on the island with impunity, conservationists said on Monday.

Birdlife Malta head Mark Sultana was reacting to a report by the Times of Malta that a bird smuggling racket between Malta and parts of Italy had been dismantled by the Italian police. Thousands of birds were allegedly smuggled by the gang, whose methods often resulted into hundreds of birds dying on every trip.

“We have on many occasions recorded incidents where finches were being sold illegally from pet shops in Malta and Gozo along with the weekly market on Saturdays in Floriana,” Mr Sultana said.

Finches were being sold illegally from pet shops in Malta and Gozo

Europol said the rare and protected birds were being sold to poachers and restaurants across Italy as part of a smuggling network that also had ties to Malta.

The organised group behind the crime from Reggio Calabria in southern Italy, was uncovered by the Carabinieri’s anti-poaching unit in cooperation with the Calabrian Police and Europol.

Nine people – all of whom Italian – have been arrested on suspicion of belonging to a criminal network.

“The criminal group had built up a network of illegal buyers and sellers of protected birds in northern Italy and Malta,” Europol said.

Describing the racket as a “lucrative business”, Mr Sultana said Birdlife had long been insisting that the finch trapping derogation, allowing the practice on the island, harmed the birds migrating over Malta and caught during the season.

The demand to have enough live birds to lure others made for some big money, he said. Some 13,000 birds are believed to have been smuggled across Italy and Malta by the gang arrested in Sicily, with experts estimating their value at over €1 million.

Maltese police sources meanwhile said the racket had long been going on in Malta and seizures of shipments were made by the local authorities from time to time.

“This is something we are aware of. Birds are brought into the island illegally from Sicily and sold as lure or for aficionados,” the sources said.

Mr Sultana said he eagerly awaited the outcome of a European Court of Justice verdict that could see bird trapping become a thing of the past in Malta.

Expected next month, the court will decide whether the derogation applied by Maltese authorities should stand.

Mr Sultana said this was important, not only because the end of finch trapping will save birds and habitats on Malta, but it would also stop the illegal trade “which has become an increasing problem”.