The police have launched an investigation after they discovered dead protected birds stored in a freezer.

In a statement, the Administrative Law Enforcement unit said its officers conducted a search in a field in the area known as Il-Ballut in Marsaxlokk but found nothing illegal.

Two men, aged 31 and 65, were on site.

The officers then searched their house in Tarxien and found several dead protected birds in a freezer, including a Great Cormorant, two Hobby, a Kingfisher, a Sparrow Hawk and a Squacco Heron.

The birds were handed to the Wild Birds Regulation Unit.