Heartbreaking footage shows a baby orangutan trapped in a tiny cage in a smuggling ring that was smashed by police this week.

The primate was torn from its home in Indonesia before being dragged across the border and into Malaysia.

But officers in Thailand said they became suspicious when a truck carrying the orangutan and other illegal wildlife passed through a checkpoint in Chumphon province on Tuesday night.

The driver said he was driving to Bangkok to deliver goods but police tracked the vehicle before carrying out a a stop-and-search operation. They found the illegal animals crammed into rusty cages.

Footage shows the baby apes, including an orangutan, a white-handed gibbon, and two siamangs, which are also a type of gibbon, being kept in one of the boxes, as well as a red panda.

The two suspect, driver Winai, 63, and his partner Kalaya, 45, were detained. Officers later raided two homes in Nonthaburi, on the outskirts of Bangkok, connected to the suspects and rescued more animals.

Chitchanok Sukmongkol, Deputy Director General of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation, said: ‘We handed over the suspects of these three cases to the inquiry officer of the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Division for legal action.

‘As for these protected and controlled animals and equipment, we requested approval from the inquiry officer to transfer them to the Wildlife Conservation Office for care until the cases are concluded.'

A total of 17 animals were rescued that night from the vehicle. On the following day, the Forest Protection and Fire Control Office dispatched more officers to do an inspection.

They went to two addresses related to the delivery and found more endangered animals.

At the first house, they found one mongoose and one red-whiskered bulbul along with two cages, while at the second address, they discovered seven cotton-top tamarins, two red pandas, and six cages.

Officers charged the driver with illegal possession of protected and controlled animals.

The market value of the animals was estimated to be 3.3 million baht (78,756 GBP), and they were believed to have been smuggled from Indonesia and Malaysia.

In Thailand, the illegal possession of protected species is punishable by up to four years in prison or a fine of up to 40,000 baht (954.62 GBP) or both.