A U.S. Customs and Border Protection photo shows pockets sewn into a man’s underwear in which agents say he smuggled 10 live birds from Cuba into Miami International Airport Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026.
Homeland Security Investigations
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent working at Miami International Airport noticed a strange bulge in the pants of a man who arrived on a flight from Havana, Cuba Sunday.
Alberto Hernandez Castillo, a Cuban national with lawful permanent residence in the United States, was also acting nervous, the agent said.
The agent checked Castillo’s carry-on bag and fanny pack and found no contraband. But, when he brought him to a room for a pat-down, things got interesting.
Plastic tubes are displayed on a table at Miami International Airport Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. Federal agents say a man used the tubes to smuggle 10 live birds from Cuba to Miami. Homeland Security Investigations
The agent found six clear, plastic tubes, each wrapped in tape with mesh affixed to the openings. The tubes were wedged in pockets sewn into Castillo’s underwear, a Homeland Security Investigations criminal complaint states. And, in the tubes were a total of 10 live birds, agents say.
There were eight yellow-faced grassquits and two blue grosbeaks, according to the complaint. The former species is a finch found in southeast Mexico and South America and throughout the islands of the Greater Antilles, including Cuba, according to the ornithology website Birds of the World.
The blue grosbeak is a species of songbirds found in many parts of South America, Birds of the World says.
Birds sit perched in a cage at Miami International Airport Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. Federal agents say a man smuggled the birds from Cuba to Miami in his pants. Homeland Security Investigations
Castillo initially told the Customs agent that the birds were for his “personal use,” but then declined to answer any more questions, invoking his right to remain silent, according to the complaint. He is being represented by a federal public defender, who did not immediately respond to the Miami Herald’s request for comment.
He faces a charge of smuggling goods into the United States.
The Miami Herald reached out to Customs and Border Protection asking about the plans for the birds. The complaint contained a photo of the birds perched in a cage.
Miami Herald
David Goodhue covers the Florida Keys and South Florida for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald. Before joining the Herald, he covered Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware.