Police issued a 36-year-old man with an extrajudicial notice of €13,500 on Sunday, after officers from the anti-poaching squad found 17 wild birds trapped in nets in a fenced field in Larnaca.

The birds were discovered during an operation on Tuesday, in an prohibited area where hunting is banned.

In a statement, police said the case began when officers found the birds “trapped in trapping nets, within a fenced field, in an area in the Larnaca district”.

Alongside the birds, they recovered five trapping nets and a device used to imitate bird calls, a method poachers use to draw songbirds towards nets where they become caught.

All 17 birds were found alive and were released back into the wild.

Checks carried out afterwards showed the 36-year-old man managed the site where the equipment was found.

Kofinou police investigated the case with the assistance of the game and fauna service.

Bird trapping is tied to the illegal capture of songbirds for food, particularly for ambelopoulia, a delicacy traditionally made from small songbirds.