SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A Tijuana man is facing federal charges after border officials say he attempted to smuggle two protected orange-fronted parakeets into the United States—hidden in his underwear.
According to a newly unsealed federal indictment, Jesse Agus Martinez, a U.S. citizen living in Tijuana, tried to cross the border at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry on Oct. 23, 2025. At around 12:50 p.m., Customs and Border Protection officers directed him to secondary inspection after noticing a suspicious bulge in his groin area.
During a further search, officers discovered two small brown sacks concealed in his underwear—each containing a heavily sedated orange-fronted parakeet. The birds were reportedly unconscious but breathing.
Four dead, four hospitalized after panga boat capsizes near Imperial Beach
CBP records indicated Martinez had previously tried to smuggle birds into the country, prompting officers to call in specialists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Wildlife inspectors identified the animals as juvenile orange-fronted parakeets (Eupsittula canicularis), a protected species listed under Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species since 2005…