8 charged in scheme to smuggle endangered monkeys to Miami, prosecutors say

Female Long-tailed Macaques preening (Ken Griffiths, Getty Images)

MIAMI – Eight people, including two government officials from Cambodia, were indicted in the Southern District of Florida for their involvement in a ring that smuggled hundreds of primates into the United States, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Some of the endangered crab-eating macaques, also known as long-tailed macaques, which were taken from national parks and protected areas in Cambodia, were destined for a Miami broker, according to the federal indictment.

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The broker wasn’t identified and was instead listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the court documents.

The indictments followed a years-long investigation, according to federal officials.

Prosecutors said the following defendants face charges:

  • Omaliss Keo, 58, of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Director General of the Cambodian Forestry Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
  • Masphal Kry, 46, of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Deputy Director of the Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity for the Cambodian Forestry Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
  • James Man Sang Lau, 64, of Hong Kong, Founder/Owner Vanny Resources Holdings, Ltd., and Vanny Bio Research (Cambodia) Corporation Ltd.
  • Dickson Lau, 29, of Hong Kong, General Manager Vanny Resources Holdings Ltd.
  • Sunny Chan, a resident of Hong Kong, Deputy General Manager (Operations) at Vanny Group
  • Raphael Cheung Man, 71, of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Public Relations and Export Manager for Vanny Bio Research (Cambodia) Corporation Ltd.
  • Sarah Yeung, a Hong Kong resident and Finance Officer of Vanny Group
  • Hing Ip Chung, 61, of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, General Manager of Vanny Bio Research (Cambodia) Corporation Ltd.

Authorities arrested Kry at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport Wednesday, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors charged the eight foreign nationals under the Lacey and the Endangered Species acts, which incorporate provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) treaty into U.S. law.

The stated aim of the CITES treaty “is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.”

According to the indictment, the defendants, having established purported breeding facilities in Cambodia, passed off wild-caught macaques as captive-bred macaques using false documents.

“The defendants and their unindicted co-conspirators arranged to illegally purchase additional long-tailed macaques from black market suppliers in Cambodia and Thailand to make up for the lack of supply of suitable monkeys at their purported breeding operations,” the indictment states.

Wild-caught macaques, mixed in with captive-bred macaques, were shipped to the Miami facility, as well as one in Alice, Texas, using false documents, officials said.

The Cambodian government officials involved in the scheme helped draw up the fraudulent permits in exchange for cash, the indictment states.

According to the indictment, the officials provided transport permits which allowed monkeys “unsuitable for the export trade” to be sent from a facility in Pursat, Cambodia, to one in Phnom Penh, “where they were euthanized and their identification tags transferred to wild-caught macaques, to make it appear the black-market monkeys were captive-bred.”

“The practice of illegally taking (the monkeys) from their habitat to end up in a lab is something we need to stop,” Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a news release Wednesday. “Greed should never come before responsible conservation. Cases like this put us in a position where we can make a difference.”

Prosecutors charged those involved with one count of conspiracy and seven counts of smuggling. The defendants could face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and up to two decades behind bars on each smuggling charge.


About the Author:

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.