Police have arrested three men in central Vietnam after five endangered tiger corpses were found in their possession, state media reported on Wednesday.
“Bui Van Hieu, 26, and Hoang Van Thien, 27, were caught on Tuesday in Nghe An province with the dead tigers in their car’s trunk,’’ the Vnexpress news site reported.
Nguyen Van Chinh, 33, who was escorting the men in a separate car, was also arrested.
They confessed to attempting to deliver the tigers to an illegal producer of tiger-infused wine.
Tigers are sometimes consumed in traditional Vietnamese medicine, although the practice is illegal.
The suspects reportedly expected to sell the five dead cubs for around 3,000 dollars.
Tigers are virtually extinct in the Vietnamese wild, although conservationists believe hundreds are bred on illegal farms. (dpa/NAN)