Overview

• Sarmad Ghaled Dafar, 33, was sentenced to four months in custody, 180 days of home confinement, and ordered to pay $23,501.70 in restitution for smuggling six baby Mexican spider monkeys.
• Dafar coordinated the smuggling of the monkeys from Mexico into the U.S. on three occasions between June 2022 and August 2023, targeting infants for easier concealment and transport.
• Three baby monkeys were intercepted at the Calexico West Port of Entry in August 2023, leading to the investigation and Dafar's guilty plea under federal conspiracy charges.
• The seized monkeys were quarantined at the San Diego Zoo due to zoonotic disease risks and later rehomed at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago as part of a conservation network.
• Experts highlighted the ecological and public health risks of such trafficking, noting poachers often kill adult monkeys to capture babies, disrupting ecosystems and threatening vulnerable species.