The would-be smugglers, a 27-year-old woman and a 26-year-old man, were caught at the Rafael Núñez International Airport in Colombia. The couple had packed the primates in their pants in a twisted attempt to evade immigration restrictions.
"At the airport, two people were apprehended who intended to traffic primates from Colombia to the Dominican Republic," local police said in a post on X, adding, "They were carrying three monkeys in their intimate parts."
Animals like these can sell for more than a million dollars on the international black market.
Two of the primates were identified as white-faced capuchins, while the third was a howler monkey. The capuchins survived, but the howler did not, after apparently suffocating in the pants of one of the captors. They are now charged with the illegal exploitation of natural resources and wildlife trafficking.
In a statement, Brigadier General Gelver Yecid Peña Araque said: "This practice is evidence of absolute cruelty and a flagrant violation of animal rights. The animal died in conditions that we can only describe as inhumane.
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