The Daily Telegraph had a strange story today. Sony Dong was caught with 14 birds strapped to his legs. He was smuggling them from LA to Vietnam. Custom officials noticed feathers and droppings stuck to his socks. Um yuck!
Federal police has been tracking Dong since December when they found a suitcase checked in and abandoned by Dong was found with 18 birds inside, 5 of them were dead. The Feds saw that Dong had planned to travel to Vietnam in April, so they waited for him to get off the plane and busted him.
Dong has been charged with three counts of illegally importing wildlife, three counts of importing goods by means of false statement and conspiracy. If convicted, Dong could do up to ten years.
Is bird smuggling a really good money maker? The way he strapped those birds to his leg seems very strange and sad. I can't imagine that the trouble is worth the profit. I also can't believe he was going to travel with them like that all the way to Vietnam. That's got to be at least a 10+ hour flight. It cannot be comfortable.
[image via The Daily Telegraph]
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What kind of birds are they? Find it hard to believe that there would be a profitable market in vietnam!
ReplyDeleteSounds more like he carried them aboard as inflight snacks :P
I think somewhere said they were either song birds or love birds?
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