Malaysian marine police foiled an attempt to smuggle nearly 2,000 protected birds out of the country, a district commander said today.

The 1,920 magpies were recovered late Sunday in dozens of cages on a speedboat in Pontian town in Johor state, about 300 kilometres south of Kuala Lumpur, marine police commander Paul Khiu Khon Chiang said.

“The birds were placed in 96 wooden cages,” he told reporters.

Police recovered the speedboat in shallow waters along the shore of Pontian after it was abandoned following a 20-minute police chase, he said. No smugglers were caught.

Magpies are favourite pets among people in Malaysia as well as neighbouring Singapore and Thailand, he said. It is illegal to buy or sell the birds in Malaysia.

On Jan 20, border security officers recovered nearly 1,500 Baya Weavers, another protected bird species, in northern Malaysia.

- dpa