The female cubs, about four months old, were being transported inside sealed plastic bins. Police and officials of other agencies set up a checkpoint on the Phetchkasem Highway in Mueang Chumphon’s Tambon Wang Phai at 1am and waited for the bus. A search turned up the two plastic bins with their lids closed, the cubs inside. Driver Somneuk Jaiman, 59, claimed that a “customer” had offered him Bt1,000 to deliver two kittens to someone at the Bangkok Southern Bus Terminal, but he didn’t know they were tiger kittens. Officials estimate the two cubs could together have fetched Bt1 million on the illegal wildlife market.

Source: The Nation Bangkok August 25, 2017 04:51 UTC