Two Texas residents are in custody for allegedly selling jaguar skins smuggled into the U.S. from Mexico.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami, 52-year-old Elias Garcia Garcia and 52-year-old Maria Angela Plancarte sold pelts for $7,000 to undercover wildlife agents in Texas and Florida
and promised to sell them up to 10 more.
Garcia and Plancarte are both from La Feria, Texas. They were arrested last week in Texas and will be transferred to Miami to face federal charges of conspiring to traffic in protected wildlife and violating the Endangered Species Act. Court records did not show whether they had attorneys in Florida.
Local
The Endangered Species Act prohibits the sale or transportation of any protected species, whether it's dead or alive.
Copyright AP - Associated Press
