Us Women Convicted for Smuggling Monkey

by Jordan Yerman | December 11, 2008 at 09:46 am

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A mother and daughter were busted while trying to smuggle a monkey into the USA from Thailand, and have been convicted of conspiracy and smuggling charges . The rhesus macaque was hidden in the daugters clothes as she claimed to be pregnant. Snce the monkey was non-metallic, it didn't set off any alerts.

They would have gotten away with it but for the fact that they bragged about their simian-trafficking exploits to a local shop clerk, who shopped them to the cops.

The two women face serious prison time, since the monkey could be carrying who-knows-what past border quarantine. This monkey was clean, though, according to border officials.

The two women were found guilty on separate charges of conspiracy and smuggling goods into the U.S.

Investigators said they would not have been caught if it weren't for a shopping trip last year.

Investigators said 28-year-old Gypsy Lawson and her mother, 56-year-old Fran Ogren, flew to Thailand in November of 2007 and bought a macaque monkey

Court documents state Lawson hid the monkey, which she named Apoo, under her shirt to pass through airport security, telling screeners she was pregnant.

Anyway, macaques are pretty rambunctious, so I wondered how they got it to stay still beneath the daughter's clothing. Turns out it was sedated.

A Washington woman who hid a sedated monkey under her blouse on a flight from Thailand was convicted of violating wildlife laws for smuggling the monkey into the United States, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The monkey won't be going home, however...

Chang said the monkey has been placed with a rescue center for abandoned primates, "but it could have been living out its life with its family in its native habitat."

In high school, I knew a guy who tried to smuggle an iguana back from Mexico in his shorts. Take a moment to imagine what happened. Suffice it to say that he was unsuccessful.