BANGKOK, May 16 — The Crime Suppression Division (CSD) on Wednesday raided a rented house in Bangkok’s Khan Na Yao district today, seizing the carcasses of two tigers, one panther and one fishing cat, and arrested one Thai and one Vietnamese.
The suspects were identified as Thai national Chawinthorn Thongtin and Ho Xoan Nhat, a Vietnamese.
The raid came after a tip off that the carcasses were being carried into Thailand from Malaysia via the Sadao checkpoint in the southern Thai border province of Songkhla and were being kept at a house while en route to China via Laos and Vietnam.
Mr Chawinthorn told police that he was hired by a Vietnamese who was to wait for the delivery of the carcasses in Laos. He drove to collect the contraband from Songkhla and brought them to the house, where another man was to pick them up later for carrying to the northeastern province of Nong Khai bordering the Lao PDR.
The suspect said he was paid Bt8,000 for each trip and there were normally three trips per month. Drinking-water bottles were used to cover the carcasses to avoid police at the checkpoints.
Police said each tiger carcass would be worth Bt700,000 if successfully smuggled beyond Thailand because every part of its body could be used.
The men were charged for violating the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act.
