Moroccan Customs Seize 26 Smuggled Falcons at Casablanca Airport

According to the press release from the Customs and Indirect Taxes Administration (ADII), the raptors were being transported without authorization by a foreign national. He had taken care to conceal them inside wooden crates specially designed for this purpose.

In total, the 26 seized birds were then handed over to the Regional Directorate of Water and Forests and recovered by elements of the High Commission for Water and Forests and the Fight against Desertification, the same source said.

The press release placed particular emphasis on the ADII’s enormous investment in the success of its mission to preserve the environment.

Indeed, through these controls carried out at the ports and airports of the Kingdom, it ensures the application and respect of international conventions recommending specific measures for the protection of endangered species of fauna and flora, such as the CITES convention.

It should nevertheless be noted that wild and protected species continue to be the subject of illegal trafficking between continents. The institution therefore calls for "necessary cooperation between the various control services to address this".