Stuffed animals and skulls laid out by Brazilian police after the raids. Credit: Policía Federal Rio de Janeiro
A woman told airport police they were just chicken eggs, but they started hatching the very next day and the chicks turned out to be threatened Brazilian parrots. A year on, the trail has led investigators to two men arrested in Gran Canaria, an island with plenty of parrot breeders and parks.
A bra, nylon stockings and a diplomatic passport
Brazilian police stopped a Swiss passenger at Rio de Janeiro’s Galeão airport in October 2025 as she tried to board a flight home. She was carrying a diplomatic passport and 24 eggs hidden under her clothes, most of them tucked inside her bra and held in place with nylon stockings. She told officers they were garnizé (bantam chicken) eggs. However, they began hatching the very next day after they were seized, and only nine chicks survived.
The chicks were protected South American parrots, the red-tailed amazon and the red-spectacled amazon, with the latter listed as vulnerable to extinction.
One woman, 17 trips to Brazil
She was released at the time, but that wasn’t the end of it. Brazil’s Federal Police later found she’d flown to Brazil 17 times between 2019 and 2025, usually for short stays and sometimes flying back to Europe the same day she arrived.
Investigators now believe members of the group have been travelling between Brazil and Switzerland for around 20 years. They describe a clear division of labour, with some finding the eggs, others organising trips and smuggling them, and others receiving the birds abroad.
Two men arrested in Gran Canaria
The case came to a head on Monday October 19 in what’s been named Operación Nido Vacío (Operation Empty Nest). Spain’s National Police arrested two men described as the alleged leaders of the network in Gran Canaria, reportedly after they travelled there together from Switzerland.
Their names haven’t been released yet, and there’s no detail on what they were doing on the island. Reports note that Gran Canaria also has several breeders and parks for parrots and other wild birds on the island, though it hasn’t been directly related to the incident.
At the same time, Swiss customs officers searched three addresses in Weinfelden, while Brazilian police arrested two suspects and searched three addresses in Curitiba, where stuffed animals, bones and skulls were seized. The Swiss woman now has an arrest warrant and is on an Interpol red notice.
It isn’t the first exotic animal case linked to the Canaries
In June, the Guardia Civil’s nature protection unit (Seprona) broke up a separate network after a suitcase of undocumented protected animals bound for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria was intercepted at Sevilla airport. Officers seized 256 specimens, including spectacled caimans, savannah monitors and red-eyed tree frogs.
As for the parrot case, investigators are now trying to identify the suppliers, the middlemen and whoever was meant to receive the birds. Those charged will face prosecution in Brazil for international wildlife trafficking, animal mistreatment, smuggling and criminal association.