From the news wires

Titi monkeys: Man caught smuggling 18 monkeys in his clothes

Titi monkeys are only about six inches long. But trying to stash 18 of them about one's person is no mean feat, an alleged monkey smuggler discovered Monday in Mexico City's airport.

Public Safety Department/AP

A man was caught attempting to smuggle 18 titi monkeys, including this one, through Mexico City's international airport Monday. He hid the tiny monkeys in a girdle under his T-shirt, say authorities.

By Associated Press

July 20, 2010, 3:19 p.m. ET | Mexico City

A man with a mysterious bulge under his T-shirt was stopped, searched and detained at Mexico City's international airport after authorities found 18 tiny endangered monkeys in a girdle he was wearing.

The Public Safety Department said in a statement Monday that Roberto Cabrera arrived on a commercial flight Friday from Lima, Peru, when authorities noticed the bulge and conducted a body search.

The department says Cabrera was carrying the 6-inch (15-centimeter) titi monkeys in pouches attached to the girdle. Two of the monkeys were dead.

Cabrera was arrested on charges of trafficking an endangered species.

Cabrera told authorities he was carrying the monkeys in a suitcase but decided to put them in his girdle "so the X-rays wouldn't hurt them."

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