The Smugglers are a group of illegal poachers from Rio. They are notoriously known for capturing and smuggling exotic birds to be sold for money on the black market.
Throughout the movie, they tried to capture Blu and Jewel, because they are believed to be the last remaining Blue Macaws, which makes them worth a lot of money. After two of the smugglers, Fernando & Tipa, failed to capture them, their leader, Marcel, sends his pet bird, Nigel, after Blu and Jewel, which proved to be a success. After smuggling the birds they captured via cover during the Rio Carnival, the Smugglers took them to an abandoned airport, where the birds were loaded onto a plane. During takeoff, they were nearly stopped by Tulio and Linda. During the flight, When Blu had freed all the other birds and opened the plane's back-hatch, Marcel attempted to stop them, but was prevented from doing so, as Blu had barricaded the door to the back-hatch. Marcel then sends Nigel to stop most of them from escaping, but he failed in the process.
After a brief scuffle, Nigel was sent flying out of the plane by Blu and into one of the plane's propellers, which caused the plane to slowly fall from the air. Realizing that they were going to crash, Marcel takes the plane's only parachute and abandons Armando & Tipa, but they immediately jumped after him. They were then spotted by a boy, who was sightseeing in a cable car with his parents. Afterward, with their plot foiled, the Smugglers were arrested and imprisoned for their crimes.
