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COURIER L 44 IFE, JUNE 21–27, 2019 PS
Bird brain
Feds bust man for smuggling fi nches
for Brooklyn bird singing competitions
BUSTED: He hid the birds inside his carry-on bag while traveling from Guyana to JFK Airport
on June 16. Photos courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s offi ce
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
These caged birds won’t sing!
A Connecticut man faces 20 years behind
bars for allegedly trying to smuggle
dozens of live fi nches through John F.
Kennedy International Airport on Sunday
to compete in Brooklyn bird singing
contests, federal prosecutors said.
The defendant was stopped by U.S.
Customs and Border Patrol when they
discovered some 34 birds, each hidden
inside individual plastic hair curlers,
which were stashed in his carry-on
bag during a fl ight from Guyana to
Kennedy Airport in Queens, according
to a spokesman for the offi ce of the
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District
of New York.
All of the birds survived the trip from
the South American country, according
law enforcement sources.
The alleged bird smuggler told the
authorities he planned to sell the birds
at $3,000 a pop — or about $100,000 for
his full fl ock — to compete in bird singing
contests that usually take place in
parks and public areas in Brooklyn and
distant Queens, where judges determine
which avian contestants have the best
singing voices, according to the feds.
And while the defendant’s birds
won’t be singing any time soon, he immediately
waived his Miranda rights
and admitted to smuggling the fi nches
through customs to avoid the quarantine,
telling investigators he knew
what he did was wrong, but that the
money was worth the risk, according
to the authorities.
Bird singing competitions are typically
accompanied by betting and a triumphant
fowl can sell for more than
$5,000, the authorities said.
Although homegrown finches
commonly compete in the borough’s
HAIRY SITUATION: The defendant hid 34
fi nches inside plastic hair curlers, which he
planned to sell for $3,000 each, according to
the U.S. Attorney’s offi ce.
bird-singing competition, their
Guyanese cousins are renowned as
world-class crooners, making them
highly sought after in the world of
competitive bird singing, according
to the authorities.
The defendant broke the law by not
declaring he was bringing in live animals
and by failing to do the necessary
paperwork to import the birds, which
also have to be quarantined for 30 days
to prevent the spread of diseases carried
by foreign fowl, such as Newcastle
disease and bird fl u, according to the
authorities.
The birds are currently being held
by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according
to John Marzulli, a spokesman
for the federal prosecutor.
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