On Sunday evening, the police interrupted the transaction of a white-brushed marmoset in Lyon,
Le Progrès
reports .
It was the SPA that alerted the police after discovering an ad on the darknet offering to buy the animal belonging to a protected species.
The sale was to take place in an apartment in the rue de l'Abondance.
The price offered to acquire the monkey was 4,000 euros.
A sum well below its true market value between 10,000 and 15,000 euros.
The police immediately set up a surveillance system.
On the spot, they arrested two men aged 24 and 25 who were about to carry out the transaction.
One admitted, during his custody, to hold the small animal while the other denied the facts.
As for the marmoset, it is now out of danger.
He was handed over to the veterinary service of the Saint-Martin-la-Plaine zoo, in the Loire.
An investigation is underway to identify the circuit, by which the animal was illegally imported into France.
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