Turkey: 2,000 smuggled goldfinches seized near Syria

HATAY, Turkey

In southern Turkey along the border with Syria, a smuggler with some 2,000 goldfinches was arrested and the birds seized, said a security source on Thursday.

Under Turkish law, hunting goldfinches is illegal.

Border regiment teams in Altinozu in the southern Hatay province stopped a suspicious individual who was found to be carrying cages of the small songbirds from one place to another, said the source, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media

The suspect, a Turkish citizen, had some 2,000 goldfinches in his possession that he was smuggling from Syria into Turkey.

The teams delivered the birds to the Nature Conservation and National Parks office in Hatay and the suspect was arrested, the source added.

In addition to the continent, the European goldfinch can be found along the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa.

Hatay borders both the Eastern Mediterranean and Syria.

*Writing by Sena Guler in Ankara