Man who claimed bulge was ‘all him’ faces prison after parakeets found in his pants

For all the excuses border control has heard – this has surely got to be up there.

A man insisted that thesuspicious bulge in his pants was simply the handiwork of God.

Jesse Angus Martinez, 35, was stopped at the Mexico-US border by Customs and Border Protection agents on October 23 and asked what the hard-to-miss bulge in the groin area of his trousers was.

He confidently claimed (and somewhat boasted) that it was just his penis and ‘all him’.

But upon further inspection, it was found that it wasn’t just his manhood in his pants, there were two rare orange-fronted parakeets in small brown bags too.

According to a United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of California press release, the two birds were unconscious and heavily sedated.

Martinez, who lives in Tijuana, Mexico, said he hid the birds because he did not have the correct paperwork to bring them into the US.

He also claimed the birds were his pets, which he got from his uncle in Mexico, and he was going to ‘keep them in a shoe box in his van,’ according to court records.

Martinez said this was not the first time he tried to smuggle a bird into the country, with an unsuccessful attempt of bringing a parrot in September that led to confiscation.

Court records for this prior incident said the parrot, was concealed in a towel under his arm.

When confiscated, the parrot was ‘subsequently euthanised.’

On Friday, Martinez was indicted on a federal smuggling charge and, if convicted, he could be fined up to £191,000 ($250,000) and face a maximum of 20 years behind bars.

After veterinary treatment and quarantine, the birds are now in stable condition.

Orange-fronted parakeets are listed as ‘vulnerable’ on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

The species’ largest threat is the pet trade. According to the group, more than 8,000 birds were legally captured between 1998 and 2008.

Other threats to parakeets include habitat loss and degradation.

Mexico banned parrot trade in 2008 but the illegal capturing is still ongoing.

All imported wildlife must be quarantined before introducing them to the country as many animals have diseases like bird flu.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the incident.

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