Couple caught smuggling spider monkey

HIDALGO, Texas (KVIA) -- CBP officers at the Hidalgo Port of Entry intercepted a spider monkey this weekend.

Agriculture specialists at the Anzalduas International Bridge discovered the monkey Sunday. Officials say a 20-year-old American man and a 21-year-old American woman tried to enter the U.S. with a spider monkey hidden in a backpack inside their car. Officials have not publicly identified the two people.

"Homeland Security Investigations, together with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, initiated a criminal investigation and arrested the driver and passenger," officials explained today. "The monkey was transported to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas."

Officials say that some monkeys are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and their importation is regulated by the CDC.