Airport inspection reveals smuggled songbirds

Prosecutors say traveler strapped birds to legs, tried to walk out of LAX

	Detained suspect Sony Dong is shown with songbirds strapped to his legs at Los Angeles International Airport.
Department Of Justice / AP

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updated 9:38 a.m. ET May 6, 2009

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Prosecutors say a traveler tried smuggling songbirds into the United States by strapping more than a dozen birds to his legs and trying to walk out of Los Angeles International Airport.

Sony Dong and another man were charged Tuesday with conspiracy in an eight-count federal indictment. Messages left with their public defenders weren’t immediately returned.

The U.S. attorney’s office says Dong was held over for inspection at the airport when he returned from Vietnam earlier this month. Prosecutors say he had bird feathers and droppings on his socks, and birds’ tail feathers peeking out from under his pants.

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Three red-whiskered bul-buls, four magpie robins and six shama thrush were among the birds that are now in quarantine. More birds were found in a Southern California home.

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