Customs officials at JFK Airport in New York have discovered 35 live finches hidden on a man who arrived from Guyana. He was hoping for $ 3,000 from the transport of these birds used for singing competitions, the Brooklyn federal prosecutor’s office said.
A search revealed that the man was wearing small cylindrical cases closed with a wire mesh to let the birds breathe, according to published photos. He had a dozen of them attached to his jacket lining and the rest wrapped around his ankles.
When questioned, the suspect explained that a contact had offered him $ 3,000 to transport the finches, including 500 before boarding in Georgetown, the capital of Guyana. He was to receive the balance on delivery in the United States.
Finches are prized for their song, which is both joyful and melodious. Singing competitions are held regularly in parks in the New York neighborhoods of Queens and Brooklyn, and are the subject of betting.
According to the testimony of an agent of the federal service of wild animals and fish, quoted in the document published Tuesday, a winning finch of several competitions can be negotiated more than 10,000 dollars. There are finches in the United States, but some specimens born in Guyana are in great demand, as their song is considered one of the best.
The man arrested was presented Tuesday to a federal judge, who released him on payment of a deposit of 25,000 dollars.
According to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), some 20,762 seizures of wild animals were made in 2017 worldwide, the latest global figure available.
ats, afp
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