A Texas man was arrested to traffic vulnerable monkeys of Mexican spider, who were too young to be separated from their mothers, San Diego and sell them on Facebook.
Sarmad Ghaled Dafar, 33, was recently sentenced to four months of custody and 180 days of house confinement for the trafficking of six young primates, according to the United States Department of Justice.
The agents of the Fishing and Wildlife Service of the United States discovered their crimes in 2023 when they intercepted three Mexican baby spider monkeys who had been smuggled on the border in Calexo by someone who worked for him, prosecutors said.
Not only is it illegal to have primates as pets in California, but it is also especially frowned upon to have baby spider monkeys. The species is in danger and babies require constant and qualified care to survive.
“This crime started the monkeys for babies from their mothers, interrupted fragile ecosystems, endangered a vulnerable species and raised important risks to public health,” said Us Atty. Adam Gordon in a statement on Friday.
After the officials confiscated the three monkeys in August 2023, they registered the smuggler's phone and found messages that indicated that he was bringing the animals through the border to Dafar.
In his guilt declaration agreement, Dafar admitted to coordinate the traffic of baby spider monkeys, receiving them in the United States and organizing their sale.
The three confiscated monkeys, called Chrissy, Jack and Janet, were temporarily quarantically in the San Diego Zoo. As part of his sentence, he ordered to pay more than $ 23,500 in restitution for the cost of his quarantine.
Since then, the monkeys have been permanently housed in the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, along with two other baby spider monkeys, called Frankee and Divees, which were seized in a separate case of border smuggling of the southwest, help of the prosecutors.
During the investigation, the authorities discovered that Dafar had hired and sold smuggling and sold at least three other Mexican baby spider monkeys, in June 2022 and July 2023.
His whereabouts is unknown.
These three additional monkeys were not in quarantine, what the law demands to avoid fatal diseases, such as Ebola, Marburg and Mpox, who spread from primates to humans, prosecutors said.
“This is not simply an economic crime; it is a serious and lasting injury for both wild life and for public safety,” Gordon said. “Border security is not just about intercount drugs and prevent illegal entries. It also implies protecting the public from dangerous diseases.”
The investigation indicated that Dafar intentionally trafficked baby spider monkeys, despite the risk of separating them from their mothers, because he believed they were easier to hide.
When a Facebook user sent him to give a news article about spider monkeys seized by the US border patrol agents[g] to[o] Many of them and all adults make a lot of noise and act. The majority of the baby is sleeping and is small to hide, “according to judicial documents.
Dafar sent potential messages to customers on Facebook and sent photos of baby spider monkeys in diapers and under a heat lamp, both signs that indicate that primates are too young to survive on their own, prosecutors said.
Spider Monkey usually nurse during their first two years of life, and most will remain close to their mothers until they are 4 years old.
Their mothers are protective, and the whole troop will work together to defend the baby against a threat, according to the testimony of American fish and wild life agents. As a result, the poachers often kill the mother and the troop when they try to capture babies.
Chrissy's genetic tests, Jack and Janet indicated that they all had separate mothers, which means that it is possible that poachers kill many monkeys to capture them.
He has been ordered to give up on May 29 or before, prosecutors said.
