(U.S. Attorney's Office)
A man from Fountain Valley was arrested yesterday for smuggling 93 Asian songbirds from Vietnam to LAX.
49-year-old Kurtis Law, who also lives in Vietnam, is looking at a federal charge of smuggling goods into the United States. That charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The Feds say Law crammed the birds in his luggage and hopped on a flight from Vietnam to Los Angeles on March 24th.
All but 8 birds survived the trip. They were arranged in his suitcase in a manner that didn't allow them to move much.
Investigators learned that several of the birds were species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Ever heard of that one?
The protected birds were
- Bali Myna
- Chinese hwamei
- Red-billed leiothrix
- Silver-eared mesia