No monkey business allowed.
California police were treated with a surprise Monday night when they pulled over a Rolls Royce suspected in a DUI and discovered a dealer’s amount of weed and a spider monkey in the front seat.
Ali Mused Adel Mohamed, 27, was busted in his 2022 Rolls Royce Ghost for speeding on SR-99 as he was driving the 1-month-old-primate, who was wearing a pink onesie.
Mohamed was arrested and charged with a DUI and possession of cannabis for sale, the California Highway Patrol said.
“The driver had a baby monkey attached – or clenched – on his person. That’s something you don’t see every day,” Modera CHP spokesperson Sergio Moreno told North Valley News.
The exotic pet was taken from Mohamed due to California’s rule against owning primates as pets.
“Spider monkeys are illegal. You cannot possess them,” Madera County Animal Services Director Amy Toler told the outlet. “It is on the endangered species list. Definitely can’t have them here in California.”
The infant male monkey was first taken to the Madera Animal Shelter.
While at its temporary shelter, the unnamed monkey snacked on mushed bananas, feeding itself with two separate spoons in an adorable video posted to Facebook.
“Since we don’t have what the monkey needed for feeding, we went with the next best thing, which is your common bananas,” Toler said.
“This is not where they should be. You know, we should not be caring for these animals. They need to be in the wild with nature, with their own species,” she added.
California Department of Fish and Wildlife took custody of the monkey on Tuesday and will transport the primate to the Oakland Zoo, 150 northwest of Madera.
Mohamed was booked into Madera County Jail with several charges including possession of an exotic animal.
Photos captured the monkey sitting in Mohamed’s lap in the back of a cop car as another picture showed cops handcuffing the driver during the traffic stop.
Inside the white luxury car cops pulled out several bags filled with marijuana buds, several phones and a plastic bag of money.
In November, Dallas police confiscated the internet-famous monkey, Jorgie Boy, after the unpermitted pet was found deathly sick and malnourished in a car crash where his owner says she had passed out drunk.
Brandi Botello, 29, had her 3-year-old spider monkey with her for a weekend when they were in a single-car crash.
The tattooed influencer, who was charged with driving under the influence, fought for the monkey to be returned to her despite Jorgie Boy suffering fractured bones and weighing 6-pounds, less than half the average weight of a spider monkey.
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