A man has been arrested at Los Angeles Airport after being caught trying to smuggle exotic birds into the country by hiding them down his trousers.
Sony Dong, 46, was travelling from Vietnam when customs officials were alerted by bird droppings on his shoes and feathers sticking out from beneath his trousers.
Dong had custom-made a pair of leggings with cloth wraps that fastened with buttons in a bid to hide the birds, but was caught with 3 red-whiskered bulbuls, 4 magpie-robins and 6 shama thrushes which can fetch up to £245 each on the US collectors market.
Authorities also arrested his accomplice, Duc Le in Orange County after he was found with 51 songbirds in an aviary at his home; both men were charged and released on bail.
The birds have been placed in quarantine and will be donated to a local zoo when they receive clean bills of health.
