Miami Traveler Arrested for Egg-Smuggling After Suitcase Starts Chirping

Some very cute and fuzzy contraband was allegedly incubating inside a passenger's bag last week at Miami International Airport. And if it hadn't hatched in the middle of his trek through customs, the traveler might have walked off scot-free.

Szu Ta Wu almost made it through the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checkpoints after arriving at Miami International Airport (MIA) on Thursday, March 23, on a Taca Airlines flight from Managua, Nicaragua.

But during a second round of questioning by customs officials, an agent heard an unmistakable "squeaking or chirping sound coming from [his] carry-on suitcase," according to federal court documents.

Wu, a Taiwanese national, removed a smaller bag from inside his suitcase and "pulled out what appeared to be a bird egg," a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report states. "The CBP officer looked into the smaller bag and saw more eggs and a baby bird."

Wu allegedly admitted that he was carrying 29 eggs in his luggage.

Customs agents called in U.S. Fish and Wildlife officers, who found that eight of the eggs were either hatched or in the process of hatching.

Wu was detained and charged with smuggling goods into the U.S. He was booked under Title 18, Section 545, a felony smuggling statute.

According to court documents, he told investigators through a Mandarin translator that a friend had paid for him to travel to Nicaragua and stay at a hotel, where an intermediary would deliver the bird eggs to him. He claimed he did not declare the eggs on his customs documentation because he was afraid he would have to pay fees for transporting them in his luggage.

Investigators suspect the eggs were smuggled as part of the exotic animal trade. The resale of hard-to-find or sought-after birds is a lucrative business in the U.S. and abroad. In Nicaragua, where Wu had his alleged hotel rendezvous, trade in macaws and similar birds is thriving, according to the affidavit.

Wu has a detention hearing scheduled for tomorrow, March 30, and his arraignment is set for April 10.

The feds say that as of March 24, they were still trying to identify what bird species Wu was carrying.

Customs agents at MIA aren't entirely unfamiliar with finding chirping creatures in travelers' possession.

In January 2016, a man was found at the airport with nine live birds in a fanny pack and stuffed in the "groin area of his pants," according to customs officials. Another Miami airport bird bust transpired in February 2020, when Customs and Border Protection found two finches, one dead and one alive, crammed into a small plastic bottle.

Both incidents involved alleged smugglers arriving on flights from Cuba.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies specify a strict protocol for importing birds, requiring a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a Veterinary Services import permit, a health certificate, quarantine, and medical examination of animals at the port of entry.

Editor's note: For our May 25, 2023, update to this story — complete with cute photos! — see "Parrot Chicks Recovered From MIA Smuggling Scheme Are Thriving"