Texas Man Sentenced for Smuggling Rare Baby Monkeys

Sarmad Ghaled Dafar, a 33-year-old Texas man, was sentenced in San Diego federal court to four months in custody and six months of home confinement for smuggling at least six endangered baby Mexican spider monkeys from Mexico into the U.S. and attempting to sell them on Facebook. Dafar coordinated the trafficking and sale of the weeks-old primates on three occasions between June 2022 and August 2023, separating them prematurely from their mothers. He was ordered to pay over $23,500 in restitution for the cost of quarantining three monkeys, which were intercepted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents at the border and cared for at the San Diego Zoo before their relocation to Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo. Prosecutors and animal experts stressed the crime’s severe impact on the species, disrupted ecosystems, and public health risks due to possible zoonotic disease. Dafar’s involvement was uncovered through intercepted messages and photos sent to buyers, revealing the baby monkeys in distressing conditions. The fate of three of the trafficked monkeys remains unknown.