Nonthaburi –
Officials from the National Parks Department and Crime Division yesterday, April 5th, arrested a group of alleged smugglers who reportedly illegally sold a living tiger cub on social media platforms.
The “Wild Hawk” special force under the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation began the investigation after being alerted by Thai police that there was live wildlife animal trading on social media (Facebook).
The investigation revealed the next trading appointment to deliver the animal in the parking area of a department store in Bang Yai District, Nonthaburi, yesterday. As of 7:05 PM. of Tuesday, police and special force officials had arrived at the scene and discovered a man driving a sedan to reportedly deliver the wild animal to another two men who were already at the parking lot.
The officials then presented themselves and arrested three suspects, whose names were only revealed as P, Tum, and Tri, and confiscated a four-month-old tiger cub and four mobile phones.
P and Tum reportedly told the police that they contacted Tri to purchase the baby tiger from a neighboring country in order to sell it to other interested clients. If the trade was successful, Tri would give a commission to P and Tum. But the process was foiled as they were caught by the authorities.
Initially, all three of them were delivered for further legal proceedings to the Bang Yai Police Station under the charges of jointly possessing and trading protected wildlife without permission, which in this case was a tiger cub worth about 400,000 baht, violating Section 17, 29, 112, and 116 of the Wildlife Preservation and Protection Act B.E. 2562.
It was not immediately clear what would happen to the cub, with “Wild Hawk” officers stating the baby would be well taken care of. “Wild Hawk” officers were also further interrogating the three suspects on where the baby tiger had come from.
Photo Courtesy: Matichon
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