National Heritage Minister Jose Herrera said that he does not think that enforcement in Malta is strong enough and said that more investment needs to be made in this regard in his sector, especially when it comes to the preservation of Maltese heritage.

Herrera was answering a question in Parliament by Labour Party MP Glenn Bedingfield regarding the illegal trapping site which was discovered near Fort Ricasoli - a government-owned site which is leased to the Malta Film Commission - last Friday.

BirdLife Malta said the site was located after it undertook some investigative operations.

Following footage taken of the area, a report was lodged with officers from the Administrative Law Enforcement (ALE) police unit that attended to the site and found nets as well as a number of illegally trapped birds in captivity.

The welfare conditions of most of the birds were poor. It was also speculated that the fact that the site was prepared with nets on the ground, and birds kept on site, some of which had been fitted with swivels to be used as live decoys, clearly showed that the trapper was intending to illegally catch birds in the coming weeks.

Bedingfield asked the National Heritage minister about what measures will be taken so that heritage sites are no longer abused of in such a way.

While acknowledging the €1 million project for the restoration of Fort Ricasoli, Herrera said that law enforcement in Malta is not strong enough and more investment needs to be made.

He said that "there is no magical formula for it because there need to be a change in Maltese mentality."

He added that he has spoken to Heritage Malta to direct them to report all illegal practices and he plans to contact all other entities under his remit as well. Additionally, he will be looking into reinforcing and strengthening penalties for all those who are found guilty of abusing Malta's patrimony.