Gelber refused to discuss how the Mexicans were fooled at the airport, except to say, the arrest came “very soon after they saw the agent in a gorilla suit.”
A federal agent disguised in a gorilla suit and placed in a cage helped nab Mexican zoo officials who were attempting to smuggle primates to their homeland, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
The Mexicans, including Victor Bernal, 57, the director of zoos and parks for the interior state of Mexico, were shown real gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees at Miami-area zoos, authorities said.
They were told the animals could be smuggled to Mexico and that they would be delivered Monday, authorities said.
“But it’s risky and dangerous to use a real animal, so we had to use a willing substitute–an agent in a gorilla outfit,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Dan Gelber said.
The agent was placed in a cage at the Opa-Locka airport, supposedly to be flown to the Toluca zoo in Mexico. Bernal and two Mexican middlemen took delivery of him, authorities said.
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