Phnom Penh (FN), Nov. 18 – Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affair is coordinating through diplomatic and legal channels in order to protect and seek justice for director of Wildlife and Biodiversity Department, who had been arrested in New York, US due to alleged conspiracy to smuggle crab-eating monkeys.

I would like to inform that Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affair and the Royal Embassy of Cambodia to the US in Washington and New York are working through diplomatic and legal channels to protect and seek justice for our official detained during his official mission. At the same times, our embassy is seeking to meet that official and finding lawyer for this case,” Cambodian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Chum Sounry told Fresh News on Friday (Nov 18).

On 17 November 2022, Cambodian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) was surprised and saddened to have learned from the media that 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.

According to the announcement on the website of the US Justice Department, he and the head of Forestry Administration have been indicted for alleged conspiracy to smuggle crab-eating monkeys into the USA.
=FRESH NEWS