OPERATION PUMA

Edition:321
Date: 05-05-03

A Guardia Civil operation called “Puma” has resulted in the confiscation of 79 animals from protected species which were being sold illegally through the internet and newspaper adverts. The operation began when the authorities discovered that two monkeys of a species known as “Titis Guineanos” were being held illegally in Madrid. Officers from the SEPRONA environmental force tracked the monkeys down to an apartment in the city centre and suspected that it was being used as a base to arrange the purchase and sale of endangered species. They obtained a search warrant and discovered the two monkeys on the premises, about to be sold to a man from Tenerife who had travelled to Madrid to buy them. The officers arrested a man for alleged involvement in contraband and illegal sale of protected species, and documentation found in the apartment enabled them to locate the person who was allegedly responsible for arranging the sales of the animals, and an accomplice who is believed to have faked documentation to allow purchasers to transport them.