Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Video Credit: CEN

This is the adorable white lion cub falling asleep in a cop’s arms after it was rescued from a from a suspected trafficker in a BMW during a traffic stop.

According to reports, officers of the Secretariat of Security and Civilian Protection were carrying out checks in Iztapalapa in the central Mexican capital Mexico City when they noticed a white BMW without licence plates.

The officials stopped the car and spotted a white lion cub sitting inside.

Picture Credits: CEN

Reports said that the two car occupants were unable to provide documentation for the lion (Panthera leo), considered ‘vulnerable’ by the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

White lions are the same species, but with a rare colour mutation. The occurrence is most common with the subspecies, the Southern African lion (Panthera leo melanochaita).

The two men, aged 35 and 29 years old, were arrested for trafficking an exotic animal, according to local media.

Meanwhile, vets will carry out tests on the cub to make sure it is in a healthy state.

In the footage, the adorable white lion is seen being held by a cop as it tries to sleep.

The cub, believed to be around two months old, will be sent to the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources to decide what to do with it next.