01-05-2025
Two protected parakeets found dead in smuggling attempt at border
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A man was arrested on suspicion of smuggling 12 protected Orange Fronted Parakeets into the United States from Mexico.
Naim Lajud Libien, 54, a Mexican citizen, faces an importation contrary to law charge that has a maximum penalty of twenty years in custody and a $250,000 fine, the United States Attorney's Office Southern District of California said in a news release
The incident occurred Tuesday around 3:10 p.m. at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.
The driver, identified as Libien, was in a 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee crossing into the U.S. when it got requested for secondary inspection.
When the suspect exited the vehicle, a Customs and Border Protection officer noticed bulges his ankles.
Authorities conducted a pat down, finding three birds in the defendant's right boot and three in his left. All the birds were tied at the feet and wrapped in panty hose.
The birds, some of which appeared to have injuries on their feet, were placed in a bird cage with food and water until they could be cared for by Veterinary Services.
Libien was taken into custody, but on Wednesday, CBP personnel heard bird crying from the suspect's impounded vehicle.
After dismantling the car, authorities found six more orange parakeets wrapped in panty hose and bound inside the seat cushion of the passenger seat of the vehicle.
Two of the birds were found dead, one of the birds appeared to have a broken neck and the other three were still alive but in poor health, according to CBP.
Orange Fronted Parakeets, native to Western Mexico and Costa Rica, are protected and have been listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) since 2005.
'Libien's concealment of the parakeets would have resulted in their entering the United States without any quarantine period or process,' CBP said in the release.
Wildlife must be subject to quarantine before it can be introduced into the U.S. to prevent disease from animals to humans, per border officials.
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