A man was indicted on a federal smuggling charge for allegedly attempting to cross the US border with heavily sedated, endangered parakeets in his underwear, according to authorities.
Jesse Agus Martinez, a US citizen living in Tijuana, was attempting to cross the border at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry on Oct. 23 when a Customs and Border Protection officer “noticed a bulge in Martinez’s groin area,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a news release.
Records obtained by CBP officers also showed that Martinez, 35, had a penchant for smuggling birds into the United States, prosecutors said.
He was diverted for a secondary inspection and allegedly told officers several times that the bulge was his “pirrin,” or a Spanish word for penis, authorities said.
But a CBP officer’s inspection allegedly revealed two brown sacks, each containing an orange-fronted parakeet, in his underwear, federal officials said.
Both birds appeared unconscious and heavily sedated, but were still breathing, officials added.
The birds were identified as protected juvenile orange-fronted parakeets after US Fish and Wildlife Service agents and inspectors arrived at the scene, according to the feds.
The drowsy fledglings were cared for by Veterinary Services at the southern border and were ultimately transferred to a Department of Agriculture Animal Import Center to quarantine, authorities added.
The parakeets, which hail from Western Mexico and Costa Rica, have been considered an endangered species since 2005, authorities said.
If Martinez smuggled the parakeets into the US, they would not have been quarantined to screen for potentially harmful diseases — such as the highly contagious and possibly lethal Avian influenza, prosecutors wrote.
The two feathered friends are in stable condition, officials said.
Marinez was indicted by a federal grand jury on Friday and charged with Importation Contrary to Law, records show.
If convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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