The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) will do its best to seek justice for its officials arrested in transit in the U.S. to attend CITES Convention Meeting in Panama, while assuring that rules and regulations as well as international conventions will be respected.
“The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and the RGC will make our utmost efforts in order to seek justice for our officials, especially those on official duty representing the country according to international conventions,” affirmed MAFF in a press release AKP received this evening.
The MAFF is surprised and saddened to have learned from the media that Mr. Kry Masphal, Director of Wildlife and Biodiversity Department, had been arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, United States of America, whilst in transit to attend the meeting of the Convention of International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Panama, the release pointed out.
According to the announcement on the website of the U.S. Justice Department, he and the head of Forestry Administration have been indicted for alleged conspiracy to smuggle crab eating monkeys into the USA.
“We uphold CITES convention’s principles and laws. It is a big irony that he, who was going to attend an official meeting at the United Nations forum to protect the endangered species of wild fauna and flora, has been arrested under such alleged conspiracy, while both Cambodia and the USA, maintain good diplomatic relations,” MAFF said.
The crab-eating monkeys are commonly scattered all over Cambodia, in the wilderness and suburban and urban areas including Wat Phnom tourist site in Phnom Penh, it said.
Since 2005, the source explained, the monkeys have been farmed in Cambodia and are exported for pharmaceutical research for new medicines and vaccines as well as cosmetic products. They are not caught from the wilderness and smuggled out, but farmed in decent manners with respect to good hygiene and health standards so as to preserve their gene pool. As obliged by CITES convention and applicable laws, only next generation of monkeys are exported.
Cambodian CITES management authority has allowed their exports based on both domestic and international laws and regulations, said MAFF, adding that as for their imports into the U.S., the import companies shall be responsible for complying with all U.S. procedures.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press