An American man was arrested for trying to sell a tiger cub online on a social media platform, the Phoenix Police Department said. Carlos Castro Alcaraz, 25, was trying to sell the cub for $20,000 to an undercover police officer after setting up the deal on social media.
According to Metro News, police officers were notified of the big cat after another user saw the posting and contacted them.
This little guy is not the only one earning his stripes.🐯 25yo Carlos Alcaraz was arrested on 1/23 & booked on possession of live wildlife & game and fish violations after advertising the cub on social media. #PHXPD600Patrol negotiated the sale of the cub and served a warrant. pic.twitter.com/e0LDWIMdvr
— Phoenix Police (@PhoenixPolice) January 24, 2023
Sergeant Brian Bower of the Albuquerque Police Department told reporters that officers were initially sceptical about whether or not the social media post was genuine. So the police decided to pose as buyers and see if the seller would respond.
Alcaraz agreed to reduce his asking price by $5,000 after the undercover cops talked to him and negotiated with him. The police executed a search warrant after the agreement was made, and they discovered the cub in Alcaraz's closet in a dog box.
Sergeant Brian Bower said that "you could hear the tiger in the background moaning. You can hear that something isn't normal. We don't know if there's a bigger market for exotic animals. This is definitely just the tip of the iceberg in terms of potential, but our detectives will look into it and want to identify if there's a larger scheme behind this."
According to CBS News, Castro-Alcaraz was arrested for a series of felony wildlife charges and lodged in the Maricopa County jail. He informed police that he bought the tiger cub last week for $8,000 from another Arizonan, according to court documents.
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