81 monkeys and methamphetamine found in car driven by suspected wildlife smugglers, say forest rangers in Thailand

Thai rangers arrested two men suspected of being part of an international wildlife smuggling ring, the military said on Saturday after they were intercepted in a car carrying 81 macaques near the Cambodian border.

Thailand is a major transit hub for wildlife smugglers, who often sell highly prized endangered creatures on the lucrative black market in China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

A patrol stopped the vehicle on Friday afternoon in the Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaeo province, where troops found the monkeys stuffed into blue net bags.

“At 3:20 p.m., authorities arrested the two suspects and inspected their vehicle,” the 12th Regiment of the Ranger Forces, responsible for the area, said in a statement on Facebook.

Troopers also seized meth and methamphetamine pills, although no quantities were specified.

During interrogation, the men admitted they were involved in a cross-border trafficking ring moving macaques from Thailand to Cambodia, the military said in a Facebook post.

Troopers were working with police to file charges under wildlife protection and narcotics laws.

Last year, Thailand sent nearly 1,000 endangered lemurs and turtles back to their home in Madagascar, after both countries’ largest operation against wildlife trafficking.

In June, Indian customs officials seized nearly 100 creatures, including lizards, sunbirds and tree-climbing possums, from a passenger arriving from Thailand. Wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC, which fights wildlife smuggling, said at the time that more than 7,000 animals, live and dead, had been seized along the Thailand-India air route in the past three and a half years.

In May, Thai police arrested a man suspected of smuggling two baby orangutans into the kingdom. That operation was supported by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Law Enforcement Office. A 47-year-old man was arrested at a Bangkok gas station as he prepared to deliver the animals to a buyer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife said at the time.

Last year, Thai customs officials arrested six Indians for attempting smuggling a red panda and 86 other animals from the kingdomincluding snakes, parrots and monitor lizards.