BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- A plot to sneak a monkey into New York City was foiled Tuesday when airline passengers noticed the fist-size marmoset perched on the smuggler's ponytail.

    The monkeyshine started in Lima, Peru, late Monday, as the man boarded a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said Spirit Airlines spokeswoman Alison Russell. After landing Tuesday morning, the man waited several hours before catching a connecting flight to LaGuardia Airport.

    During the flight, people around the man noticed that the forest-dwelling marmoset had emerged from underneath his hat, Russell said.

    "Other passengers asked the man if he knew he had a monkey on him," she said.

    The well-behaved monkey spent the remainder of the flight in the man's seat, said Russell, who didn't know how it got through customs and security.

    Airport police were waiting for the man and his monkey when the plane landed about 3 p.m., and the man was taken away for questioning. It was unclear whether he would face any criminal charges.

    The city's animal control agency said the monkey appeared healthy. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was planning to take it for disease testing and keep it quarantined for 31 days, CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said. If the monkey is healthy, it could wind up in a zoo.

    "It is kind of a spirited monkey," Russell said. "That will be the nickname of the monkey: Spirit."

    (Agencies)