XYLOFAGOU and Xylotympou police were kept busy over the last couple of days with a number of cases involving offences of illegal bird trapping in the Famagusta area.
Five men aged 31, 49, 52, 56, and 64 were arrested in cases involving the illegal possession of bird trapping apparatus.
According to police, after securing a judicial warrant, officers from MMAD on Wednesday searched the home and premises of a 56-year-old from Liopetri where they found and confiscated as evidence 52 lime sticks, five mist nets and 12 dead wild birds.
The man was taken to Xylofagou police station where he was charged and released to appear in court at a later date.
On Tuesday morning in an orchard in the ‘Vattenas’ area of Ormithia community members of the Game Fund found a 52-year-old man setting up two mist nets with 11 folding iron stakes which were confiscated. The man was taken to Xylotympou police station and charged and released to appear in court at a later date.
Following the securing of a judicial warrant, MMAD officers, in cooperation with the Game Fund searched a Xylotympou home in the presence of its 31-year-old owner. Thirteen packages containing dozens of clean and plucked wild birds were discovered in a freezer in the living room of the house along with another 32 in a nylon bag, while 75 lime sticks were found in the garden.
The man was taken to Xylotympou police station and charged and released to appear in court at a later date.
A judicial warrant was also used, again by MMAD and Game Fund men to search the Ormidia home of a 49-year-old where seven black nets in a nylon bag were found and confiscated from his kitchen table. In the front room another four nets were found, in a bedroom another six and in a garden shed, yet another six, all in nylon bags.
The man was taken to Xylotympou police station and charged and released to appear in court at a later date.
Another judicial warrant and a search of a 64-year-olds house in Ormidia, by MMAD and the Game Fund yielded 11 black mist nets of different shapes and sizes. A further search of premises opposite the house that the man had use of brought to light two more nets ready for use and 68 other black nets.
The 64-year-old is expected to appear at Xylotympou police station to give a statement at a later time.
