The day of the arrest, a Cambodian wildlife official at the CITES conference assured National Geographic that illicit monkey trading "doesn't happen" in his country.
Cambodian wildlife officials, black-market dealers and top executives at a monkey breeding company conspired to illegally export long-tailed macaques to the U.S., prosecutors said.
A Cambodian wildlife official and seven others were charged with smuggling endangered monkeys. The men are accused of illegally purchasing wild macaques for a breeding operation.
The Cambodian government and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said they will make the “utmost effort” to seek justice for a Cambodian official arrested in John F Kennedy International Airport in New York for allegedly conspiring to smuggle crab-eating macaque monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) into the US.