Is there any way we can find out who they are? They’re probably still on remand in Italy.
There’s more in the Italian press today about the Maltese caught at Linate (Milan) airport with the corpses of protected species of birds.
There were three Maltese people with four suitcases packed with 200 dead birds, all of several rare species protected under the Washington Convention.
Because they had flown into the European Union straight from Argentina, they had to go through the Customs & Excise channel. Suitcases aren’t routinely opened in this channel. The smugglers were stopped only by chance, when an official noticed something not quite right in their ‘documentation’ (passport?).
I’d like to have seen the expression on the Customs officers’ faces when they opened those suitcases.
The latest report says that the carcasses were being trafficked into the lucrative black market for stuffed birds and animals of rare species, which operates through a clandestine network of smugglers, taxidermists and of course, clients.
The link is below.
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http://www.geapress.org/caccia/linate-dal-sudamerica-a-malta-le-valige-della-morte-video-e-fotogallery/45923
Its odd that they weren’t stopped when boarding the flight from Argentina. Suitcases are always scanned before being put on a plane.
Although the primary purpose of the scan is to detect bombs and dangerous objects, they do also watch out for other illegal items that may show up, and dead animals would be immediately obvious to operator looking at the scanned images.
I think they will have needed some insider help at the airport there to get through.
I was on an Easyjet flight to London some four years ago and the passenger sitting next to me proudly recounted how she and her husband had boarded a British Airways flight to Malta with four live cocks in their hand luggage.
The cocks were only discovered when the stewardess was sorting out the overhead cabins.
Usually, when Maltese citizens are arrested abroad there is a reaction in Malta, seeking to know who are these persons, and whether the Maltese embassy in that country is showing any interest, and assistance if need be, in the case.
Is there any reason for the apparent lack of interest in this case which implicates Malta as place implicated in this illegal practice?
It’s an interesting observation you make.
Have you noticed how headlines in Malta always specify the nationality of the person involved when the incident happens in Malta?
When someone with a Maltese surname does well abroad (even if s/he wasn’t even conceived on Maltese soil) then it is proudly announced as though it were a Maltese achievement.
Is there a parochial, incestuous village mentality at play? Or perhaps an unpleasant cocktail of nationalism laced with gingoism bordering over racism?
Xi hadd ta’gewwa, ovvjament.
John Dalli, the case.
From what I heard they are from the whereabouts of Hal Kirkop or Hal Safi.
Is the Commissioner For Reducing Bureaucracy by 25% in Malta?
I saw him half an hour ago in front of Auberge de Castille.
[Daphne – I saw him yesterday morning with his wife at an outdoor table at Cafe Cordina. I felt like saying, “Hi Michael, busy reducing bureaucracy?” but instead I just said hi, how are you. We go back a long way.]
According to the three monkeys ” See nothing, hear nothing, that way one wouldn’t have to say anything while the Hon Minister is supervising the revamping of the security service.
Crikes. Never saw any of those shot. How did it come to their mind to even shoot those birds in the first place? They normally adorn beautiful green and lush areas. Stupidity and ignorance at its best, that definitely was not a hunting spree. Pieces of s***
Let them rot where they are. They are a bunch of savages. I hope the Italians show them no mercy.