A total of 172 crab-eating monkeys, a type of quadrumana, under key protection defined by international pacts, were rescued Saturday when a smuggling case was cracked in southern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

After receiving a report of suspected smuggling in Ningming county, local police along with a boarder-guard force intercepted a Toyota microbus, in which 16 cages with such monkeys were found, when the vehicle tried to pass a checkpoint stationed by the frontier force on Saturday morning.

The monkeys were smuggled from overseas and scheduled to be sold to restaurants in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, two cities of southern China's Guangdong Province, for huge profits, according to the smugglers.

This is a rare case of smuggling quadrumana in the country over the several past years, noted the police.

The monkeys have been sent to a provincial research center for protecting wildlife in severe danger, according to the police.

(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2004)