Man Who Kicked Customs Dog Is Turned Away at D.C. Airport, U.S. Says
A man traveling on a tourist visa was arrested and kept from entering the United States this week after he was accused of kicking a trained detector dog at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., that had found more than 100 pounds of undeclared food in his luggage, the authorities said.
The man, Hamed Ramadan Bayoumy Aly Marie, a native of Egypt, was arrested at the airport on Tuesday and pleaded guilty a day later to a misdemeanor charge of harming animals used in law enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news release.
Mr. Marie, 70, was accused of kicking the agriculture detector dog, a 5-year-old beagle named Freddie, 'so hard that he was lifted off of the ground,' according to court records filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Mr. Marie was said to have reacted after the dog alerted its handler to possible contraband in a piece of luggage in the baggage-claim area, according to court records. A lawyer listed for Mr. Marie did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Customs and Border Protection said that a search of Mr. Marie's luggage found that he was carrying 55 pounds of beef, 44 pounds of rice, 15 pounds of eggplant, cucumbers, and bell peppers, two pounds of corn seeds and a pound of herbs.
All the of items 'were prohibited from entering the United States and seized,' the agency said.
According to court records, Freddie was taken to a veterinary emergency room after the kick. The customs agency said that the dog, who weighs 25 pounds, was found to have contusions to his right forward rib area.
'Being caught deliberately smuggling well over 100 pounds of undeclared and prohibited agriculture products does not give one permission to violently assault a defenseless Customs and Border Protection beagle,' Christine Waugh, the agency's director for the area port of Washington, D.C., said in the news release.
Agriculture detector dogs play an important role in 'screening passengers and cargo to prevent the introduction of harmful plant pests and foreign animal disease,' Customs and Border Protection said, adding that plant diseases, invasive species and weeds 'have cost nations millions to billions of dollars in eradication measures and lost revenues.'
Mr. Marie, who was traveling on a tourist visa and left the country on Thursday, was credited with time served on the misdemeanor charge, the agency said, and he was ordered to pay $840 in restitution as well as $125 in fines and fees.
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