French billionaire Olivier Bouigues, son of the founder of the construction, telecommunications and media group BTP, was detained today on suspicion of illegally hunting protected bird species on his estate in the central part of the country, judicial sources said.
In addition to Bouygues, three other people have been detained in the same case, the same sources added.
In early June, agents from the French Biodiversity Office and gendarmes found the carcasses of protected birds (cormorants, vultures, and herons) during a search of a billionaire's estate.
Investigators suspect "systematic destruction over several years" of these species, according to the prosecution.
These birds were killed because they were harming the partridges and pheasants that were hunted on the property.
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