14 DAY TRIAL // News from Thailand says that, earlier this week, five newborn tiger cubs were rescued from two suspected smugglers by police officers.
Together with these baby tigers, authorities recovered 312 lizards, 174 turtles and 11 tortoises, all of which were found hidden in the back of the pick-up truck that the two men were driving.
At the time when the animals were found, they were tucked away inside either boxes or sacks. They were hidden from view by a black plastic sheet that covered the vehicle's back almost entirely.
The police officers who found the animals say that, although none of them was dead at the time when they pulled them out of their boxes and sheets, they were all fairly week.
Now that they have been rescued, the tiger cubs and the reptiles are to be sent to the country's Wildlife and Natural Resources department, where specialists will see to it that they are rehabilitated.
Huffington Post tells us that the two men in whose pick-up truck the animals were found are named Wisanu Netsawang and Chakraphan Khamkhotesoon. The first is 36 years old, whereas the latter is 22.
By the looks of it, they were stopped by officers at a checkpoint while driving in northwest Thailand.
Authorities have reasons to believe that they were on their way to Laos, and that their final destination was Vietnam or China. It is likely that they wanted to sell the animals in one of these two countries.
Once in Vietnam or China, the tigers, the lizards, the turtles, and the tortoises would have probably been killed and either used to make medicine, or eaten.
Wisanu Netsawang and Chakraphan Khamkhotesoon both say that they were trying to smuggle the animals not on their own accord, but because somebody hired them to do so.
The two men are now facing legal charges having to do with illegal possession of protected animals.