Egyptian Immediately Deported From US After Kicking Airport Sniffer Dog So Hard It Flew Into the Air

An Egyptian traveller has been deported from the US after kicking a detector dog so hard it went airborne at Washington Dulles International Airport.

The 70-year-old man, Hamed Ramadan Bayoumy Aly Marie, arrived on a flight from Cairo, Egypt, when the sniffer dog alerted US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers to his bag containing 100 pounds of prohibited food.

When the CBP canine handler began questioning Marie, he kicked Freddie, the five-year-old beagle, sending him into the air.

Marie was immediately handcuffed and turned over to Homeland Security.

He pleaded guilty to harming an animal used in law enforcement and was deported from the US and sent back to Egypt.

Freddie Detected 100 Pounds of Prohibited Food Including Meat and Vegetables

The CBP agriculture detector dog was inspecting bags from the Cairo flight when he alerted his handler to Marie's luggage.

The bag was later found to contain 100 pounds of undeclared, prohibited food including 55 pounds of beef, 44 pounds of rice, 15 pounds of eggplant, cucumbers and bell peppers, two pounds of corn seeds, and various herbs. These products were seized by CBP.

'The ability to discriminate and target a specific odour, such as that of an orange or even a live snail, makes dogs an invaluable tool in detecting prohibited agricultural items hidden from view,' CBP states on its website.

Beagles are preferred as agriculture detector dogs because of their powerful sense of smell, non-threatening size, high food drive and calm nature with the public.

A trained dog can detect prohibited agricultural products in someone's luggage within seconds, compared to CBP officers who would need to manually search each bag.

Today, more than 180 teams operate in CBP's agriculture canine programme, working at border crossings, preclearance locations, cruise terminals, cargo warehouses, air passenger terminals and mail facilities processing international goods.

All dogs at the USDA National Detector Dog Training Center come from US rescue shelters or private donations

Marie Was Deported Immediately After Pleading Guilty In Court

Marie appeared before the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Wednesday and pleaded guilty to harming an animal used in law enforcement. He was ordered to report immediately to CBP for removal from the US and was placed on a flight back to Egypt the following day.

He was also ordered to pay Freddie's veterinary fees. The attack caused contusions to Freddie's right forward rib area, a veterinarian determined.

'Being caught deliberately smuggling well over one hundred pounds of undeclared and prohibited agriculture products does not give one permission to violently assault a defenseless Customs and Border Protection beagle,' Christine Waugh, CBP's Area Port Director for the Area Port of Washington, D.C, said in a statement on Thursday.

She added, 'We rely heavily on our K9 partners and Freddie was just doing his job.'

'Any malicious attack on one of us is an attack on all of us, and CBP will continue to work with our investigating and prosecuting partners to deal swift and severe justice to perpetrators,' Waugh concluded.