Illegal animal traders arrested in Bangkok

BANGKOK, June 10 (TNA) - Thai police and officials of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on Monday made the arrest at a house in Bangkok's Klong Sam Wa area and found over 200 rare wild animals in cages. The Thai authorities said that the house on Hathairat 38 road in West Sam Wa Sub-district covers an area of about one rai or about 1,600 square meters, and that the arrested suspects were members of a big ring and had been prosecuted for illicit animal trade previously. According to the authorities, the rescued animals include 14 lions and a number of hornbills, leopard cats and turtles, most of them had been smuggled into Thailand for local trade and exports. The authorities revealed that the seized wild animals will be then sent to the Khao Kheow National Park in Thailand's eastern Chon Buri province pending the prosecution against the arrested suspects. (TNA)