A Libyan man was fined €240 and handed a six-month jail term suspended for a year after he admitted in court to animal cruelty when he stuffed 130 birds into a dozen small boxes in his luggage to smuggle out of Malta.

Police Inspector Alexander Miruzzi told the court that the accused, Shaban Giuma El Ghazik, 27, had cooperated with the police.

He said that such cases were happening about once a month and the court had to send a clear message that this had to stop. He called for a fine and a suspended jail term.

The inspector said many of the birds had survived and were being kept at Ghammieri before being taken to an aviary at San Anton Garden. A number had died.

Legal Aid lawyer Mark Busuttil told the court that his client did not know that it was illegal to export the birds in this way.

He said his client was a first-time offender and did not deserve a suspended jail term. His client had bought the birds in good faith but these had been confiscated, which was already a punishment. He said the accused had not tried to hide the birds.

The prosecution said the birds were hidden and the defence argument did not hold water.

The court than imposed the fine and suspended jail term.