Man Caught Smuggling Titi Monkeys in His Girdle

Now there's a headline I'd never thought I'd see.

Hey, are those a bunch of monkeys in your girdle or are you just happy to see me?

Mexican authorities have arrested a man who was trying to smuggle 18 small monkeys into the country by carrying them in his clothing.

Roberto Sol Cabrera, a Mexican citizen, was stopped at a random check at Mexico City's international airport last Friday after arriving from Lima.

In a statement, police said Mr Cabrera Zavaleta had been behaving "nervously".

Once he was searched, it was discovered that he had hidden 18 titi monkeys in a girdle around his waist.

Mr Sol Cabrera later confessed that the animals had travelled in his luggage, and that he had put them under his clothing "to protect them from X-rays" as he was going through customs.

The animals had been put into socks, police explained, and two of them were dead at the time of confiscation.

Many species of titi monkeys, a species from South America, are in an endangered animal list by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).