ST.PETERSBURG, April 1 (RIA Novosti) - Russian customs officers have seized four rare monkeys from an Ecuadorian sailor at St. Petersburg port, a customs spokesman said on Tuesday.
The suspect had bought the animals in Ecuador for $200 and hid them on a vessel that shipped bananas to Russia. He hoped to later sell the monkeys on for a profit.
"Zoologists said the monkeys were rare species of primates: one belonged to the saimiri sciureus group [South American squirrel monkey], and the others were babies of tamarin [squirrel-sized New World monkeys]," the spokesman said.
On the Russian black market the monkeys would cost over $4,000, he added.
The animals experienced health problems after their 25-day trip. One of the monkeys later died, and the others were sent to St. Petersburg's Leningrad Zoo.
