New York: he hid live birds in his clothes and was detained at the airport

NEW YORK (AFP) .- An inhabitant of Guyana was detained last Monday at JFK New York International Airport after the authorities They will find 35 living finches hidden under his jacket and pants, as the American justice reported on Tuesday.

The New York Eastern District Attorney’s Office reported today that Kevin André McKenzie, 36, was arrested on Monday and accused of exporting wild animals to the United States, arriving on a flight from Georgetown, Guyana, with the birds.

Today the accused appeared before a Brooklyn Federal Court judge, who released him in exchange for the payment of a deposit of 25,000 dollars, according to the prosecution.

McKenzie had individually hidden the live birds in hair rollers which he tied around the waist of his jacket and around each ankle.

In a report filed with the judge, Special Agent Kathryn McCabe of the Wildlife Service said many New Yorkers wanted the finches to perform at song contests in the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.

Winning finches sometimes cost $ 10,000, and Guyanese finches have a reputation for singing better, the officer said. “An individual who wants to smuggle finches into the United States from Guyana can make a big profit if he sells them in the New York area,” McCabe said.

The defendant told authorities he was paid $ 3,000 for smuggling the birds into the United States, 500 of which was before the theft. McKenzie – according to his testimony before the judge – would receive the rest when he arrived.

THE NATION