Police in Vietnam’s central province of Ha Tinh found four tiger cubs - all alive - weighing 21.15 kilos in total and many pangolins totaling around 400 kilos with no clear origin hidden in a car on the early morning of September 4.
Lieutenant Commander Dang Quang Niem, vice chief of the provincial environmental police department, confirmed with Dan Tri newswire the same day that the discovery was made at 1:00 am on a section of National Highway 8A that runs through Duc Lam commune, Duc Tho district.
According to police sources, following a tip-off from the public, local police stopped a suspicious Camry car numbered 1171 and found the smuggled animals inside.
Ho Sy Hanh and Bui Van Manh, both being local residents, told police they had been hired to transport the animals but they did not reveal identities of the real owners.
The two were taken to the provincial police department for further questioning.
The police are carrying out all necessary formalities to release the animals back to the wild.
According to statistics in 2011 released by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), there is a small population of 30 wild tigers in Vietnam though about 100 wild tigers lived in the country 10 years ago.
Trading in tiger parts that are often used in traditional medicines is believed to put pressure on tiger numbers in the wild.
Many pangolins totaling around 400 kilos found being hidden in the car on September 4, 2012. Photo: Dan Tri
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