They had actually bought the monkeys, reportedly smuggled in from Cambodia, and kept them in a farm in Tay Ninh province on the border.

They then concocted documents to show the monkeys had been bred in these farms so that they could get the license to export them.

Since May around 2,000 such monkeys have been exported to China and other countries by air from Ho Chi Minh City.

They reportedly fetched at least US$500 each.

Thanh Nien has petitioned the Forest Bureau Management to make a careful check of the actual number of monkeys raised in Vietnamese farms to foil any future smuggling.

A bureau official promised Thursday to take swift action.

Under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the transport and trade of wild monkeys is illegal.

Reported by Viet Chien – Translated by An Dien