Smuggler carried sedated endangered parakeets in underwear while crossing into US from Mexico: feds

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A man was indicted on a federal smuggling charge for allegedly attempting to cross the US border with heavily sedated, endangered parakeets in his underwear, according to authorities. Jesse Agus Martinez, a US citizen living in Tijuana, was attempting to cross the border at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry on Oct. 23 when a Customs and Border Protection officer “noticed a bulge in Martinez’s groin area,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said in a news release .