Smuggled birds get radiation dose by airport security

A Libyan resident in Malta admitted to animal cruelty charges before Magistrate Consuelo Herrera.

Motaz Abdurahman Tunia, 24 from Sliema, was caught smuggling 16 chickens, 17 canaries and 2 budgerigars in a luggage while in transit to Libya.

The baggage was intercepted by airport security which suspected its contents when noises were heard from the luggage, and could also sense movement inside it.

The baggage was put under the X-ray machine and the birds were discovered.

Tunia said that he didn't know of the process to export the birds and admitted to charges on ill-treatment to animals.

The court ordered the confiscation of the birds as they were exposed to radiation under an X-ray machine used to scan explosives.