Wildlife smuggling charges against Cambodian officials have caused only a “delay” in macaque shipments, a U.S. importer said, as the Agriculture Ministry offered no clarity on whether it was taking any additional precautions as the trade resumes.
New Agriculture Ministry official Yang Saing Koma gets a new position. Siem Reap district governors were shuffled around earlier this month.
A publicly traded American importer of laboratory monkeys says its supply from Cambodia has stopped after the U.S. indicted a Cambodian supplier for allegedly trafficking wild macaques, delaying its fourth-quarter earnings report as two of its subsidiaries face grand jury subpoenas related to the case.
The Agriculture Ministry has accused VOD of “perhaps maliciously” distorting a ministry press release, saying the publication could be perceived as having a “politically driven agenda.”
Opposition party leader and agriculture expert Yang Saing Koma and a colleague met with Prime Minister Hun Sen to discuss plans to recover the agriculture sector, with a ministry official saying he will be offered a secretary of state position in the government.
Workers at the Vanny Bio Research farm speak of X-rays to check newly arriving monkeys for airgun pellets and packing animals into crates for flights. It’s grueling work for under $200 a month to supply overseas laboratories with animals, they say.
The Agriculture Ministry backed two of its employees who have been charged with smuggling long-tailed macaques — and one of whom was arrested in the U.S. on Wednesday — and said it would make the “utmost efforts” to absolve them.
The Ministry of Agriculture has asked farmers in Battambang and Banteay Meanchey to refrain from criticizing the ministry for low crop prices on the grounds that it has already sent officials to resolve the issue.
An Agriculture Ministry official was arrested in New York — and the Forestry Administration’s director is also wanted — for a U.S. felony indictment over smuggling long-tailed macaques.
Hun Sen has appointed fired Agriculture Minister Veng Sakhon as minister delegate attached to the prime minister three days after his removal.
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