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YEREVAN. - Armenia-based Zoo Fauna Art LLC was to transport 61 monkeys to Armenia from Tanzania, however the arrest of Vardanyan brothers in that country had nothing to do with that export and that company, the LLC director Artur Khachatryan told Armenian News – NEWS.am.

“Artyom and Eduard Vardanyan are my friends. [But] they have nothing to do with Zoo Fauna Art, which was to transport monkeys to Armenian pursuant to an agreement. The thing is that on Wednesday Vardanyan brothers came to the airport to send a luggage to Armenia. They knew a plane was to arrive and had decided to send part of their goods. At that moment everyone present at the airport was arrested,” the director said.

Khachatryan, who deals with the import of exotic animals, noted that they did everything pursuant to the law, possess all the necessary documents and thus had the right to transport those monkeys to Armenia.

“We’ve got all the papers. We haven’t done anything illegal. We don’t know what happened. But the priority issue is that our compatriots have been arrested in Tanzania. We have already hired attorneys; the preliminary hearing will be held Tuesday,” he said.

Arrested Artyom Vardanyan is the owner of “Jambo Exotic Park”Restaurant Complex in Dzoraghbyur village of Armenia’s Kotayk province. Various exotic animals are kept at that complex. 

On Wednesday, Artyom and Eduard Vardanyan, 52 and 44 respectively, were arrested at Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro international airport. According to the local The Citizen newspaper, the brothers tried to transport 61 monkeys to Albania by a cargo plane.

Although Tanzania bans exporting wild animals out of the country, Vardanyan brothers had somehow obtained a permit to export the monkeys. 

In summer 2014, Artyom Vardanyan was embroiled in a scandal: the monkeys in his “Jambo Exotic Park”Restaurant Complex had allegedly died of Ebola virus. Investigation is underway.

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