Migrants charged with smuggling exotic birds to US soil, drowning them when the Coast Guard closed in
A crew of heartless migrants are charged with smuggling exotic birds into Puerto Rico — and throwing more than 100 overboard as the US Coast Guard closed in on them, .
The US Attorney’s Office said 113 of the rare feathered treasures were captured in the Dominican Republic and stashed in wooden cages aboard a ship bound for US territory when the bird nappers saw authorities coming after them — and got rid of the evidence.
The Coast Guard fished the bodies out and laidš them out on the deck, a heart-brš§øeaking photo shows.
“The defendants violated laws protecting tropical birds and regulating the international sale and exportation of wildlife,” W. Stephen Muldrow, US Attorney for Puerto Rico, said in a statement.
“When confronted by law enforcement, the defendants tried to cover up those crimes by killing the protected birds by throwing them into the sea while still in their wooden crates,” Muldrow said.
The four Dominican nationals — Frankluis Carela De Jesus, Waner Balbuena, Juan Graviel Ramirez Cedano and Domingo Heureau-Altagracia — were captured on the high seas on May 3 and named in a federal indictment unsealed on Thursday, prosecutors said.
All fošur face up to 15 years in federal prison if convicted.
Heurreau-Altagracia was ordered to remain on home confinement while the other three migrants were ordered held without bail pending trial, the US Attorney’s Office said.
The ship with the stolen wildlife was 30 nautical miles off the northernš coast of Pueārto Rico when stopped.
“Their decision to recklessly jettison smuggled birds and other evidence from their vessel resulted in the death of numerous exotic birds,” said Edward Grace, assistant director of law enforcement for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
“This case underscores the cruel reality of the illegal wildlife trade and our commitment to vigorously pursue those engaged in wildlife trafficking,” Grace said in the statement.