Customs officials in northwestern Turkey's Edirne province seized 26 cockatiel birds Thursday at Kapıkule Border Gate along the border with Bulgaria in an anti-smuggling operation.

Customs Enforcement and Anti-Smuggling and Intelligence Directorate units found the birds that smugglers had placed in boxes in a vehicle attempting to cross the border.

The cockatiels were drugged and restrained in separate pouches.

Customs units delivered the animals to a trustee veterinarian after completing the necessary procedures.

"We are against the sale of animals as a commodity. Causing them to suffer is not humane," trustee veterinarian Feyza Güner Gökpınar said, urging smuggler to halt such operations.