When contacted, officials at the authorities concerned said they were investigating the case and taking extra preventive measures to contain any bird-flu outbreak.

Some of the smuggled birds are believed to have found their way to Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, according to a tip-off by one of the local citizens who has close connections with bird traders.

"We take tip-offs seriously until it is proved otherwise. Anyhow, if the claim is found to be correct, it is going to create a crisis," said Abdul Nasser Al Shamsi, Director of Wildlife Research Centre, adding that measures were already in place to monitor the birds markets.

"The whole matter may prove to be sheer conflict between parties involved in this kind of trade or sort of settling scores," he suspects.

"To say that all is well and that everything is under control will lead to a problem in the end," he warned.

Al Shamsi pointed out that measures taken differ from emirate to emirate, saying that while Abu Dhabi is hammering out a contingency plan, Dubai is in the process of doing the same.

"But what about the other emirates?" he asked, calling for urgent action to be taken in order to face and verify the problem.

The Ministry of Agriculture had previously allowed entry of some falcons from Russia, one of the regions from where import of birds is banned, a matter which evoked a crisis with the Environment Authority.

The Ministry has further banned the import of sea birds as well as all kinds of ornamental birds and their products from Asian countries and bird flu-infected areas, as per Ministerial Decision No 383 of 2005.

Transboundary smuggling of birds is a common practice suffered by the Gulf region states. Previously, consignments of ornamental birds were moved from Bahrain to Saudi Arabia. A recent re-export of 250,000 birds via Bahrain caused a tussle between the two GCC member states.

Lack of veterinary quarantines and the need to go in for major revamping in existing ones has been a major obstacle in the implementation of a clear-cut policy in this connection.

Experts of the Food And Agriculture Organisation (FAO), who visited the UAE two weeks ago, underlined the need for a viable plan to be drafted with the participation of the Agriculture Ministry, Environmental Authority, citizens, poultry farm owners and bird importers.