Egyptian man deported after kicking US Customs dog into the air

Telegraph

a day ago

An Egyptian man has been deported from the US after kicking a customs dog so hard it flew into the air at an airport in Washington DC. Freddie, a five-year-old Beagle who works with US customs officials
Hamed Ramadan Bayoumy Aly Marie pleaded guilty to kicking Freddie, a five-year-old beagle who works with US customs officials to detect smuggled agricultural products at Washington Dulles International Airport.
Freddie and his handler were on patrol at 6.30am local time on Tuesday when he detected a suspicious suitcase that had arrived on a flight from Cairo.
Hamed Aly Marie, who owned the suitcase, spoke with a CBP officer before he kicked Freddie 'so hard that he was lifted off of the ground,' a federal complaint reads.
CBP officers immediately handcuffed Marie before turning him over to homeland security for prosecution.
They later found a raft of banned agricultural products inside his suitcase, including 25kg of beef meat, 20kg of rice, 7kg of aubergine, cucumbers, and bell peppers, 1kg of corn seeds, and some herbs.
Freddie, who weighs 11kg, later required a trip to the emergency vet, where he was treated for contusions to his right rib.
Marie was made to pay the $840 (£611) bill before being sent back to Egypt on a flight on Thursday.
The incident took place in the baggage claim area of the airport, which is located in Virginia.
Christine Waugh, a senior CBP officer, said being caught with such an amount of food did not mean Marie could 'violently assault a defenceless beagle'.
Ms Waugh said custom officials 'rely heavily on our K9 partners' and said Freddie was 'just doing his job', adding: 'Any malicious attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.'
'CBP will continue to work with our investigating and prosecuting partners to deal swift and severe justice to perpetrators.'