Officials have seized 1,666 bear claws and four tiger skulls from the Lao driver of a bus travelling from Bangkok to Pakse in Laos.
The bus was stopped in Ayutthaya's Wang Noi district on Saturday for a search following a tip-off that there were wildlife carcasses on board, deputy national police chief Pol Gen Chalermkiat Srivorakan said in a news briefing yesterday.
The search uncovered the bear claws and tiger skulls in a bag next to the driver, Katay Sisuwan, a 28-year-old Lao national. He admitted to owning the bag.
Mr Katay is said to have told police that a Vietnamese man, known only Min, asked him to take the items to a Lao man in Pakse.
The number of claws found means that at least 84 bears were killed, according to officers.
According to investigators, the trafficking network was being sponsored by Thammanoon Kongdee, 44.
Mr Thammanoon was suspected of supplying the carcasses to Warapong Panjam, a 58-year-old Thai man, and Nguyen Wan Herb, a Vietnamese man, who packed the items in bags before handing them to Mr Katay. Officers later arrested Mr Warapong.
During the police search of the house belonging to Mr Thammanoon in Muang district of Nakhon Pathom on Sunday, officers discovered two dead Hawksbill sea turtles and a dead green turtle.
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Mr Thammanoon.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, authorities searched seven locations in Saraburi in a coordinated effort to clamp down on the illegal poaching of protected wood and wildlife yesterday.
The seven spots were in Wat Tham Praphothisat community in tambon Thap Kwang of Kaeng Khoi district and Ban Sapprik community in tambon Mittraphap of Muak Lek district.
They included the house of Wittaya Wangdee, 31, in tambon Thap Kwang, who was arrested for possessing protected teak wood without a permit and more than 0.2 cubic metres of non-teak protected wood without approval.
Officers also searched the house of Suthiporn Buakapui in tambon Thap Kwang, where they discovered a protected long-tailed macaque.
Authorities found another macaque as well as a rifle at the house of Sommai Buakapui, 47, and Suthep Krukkrathok, 24, in the same tambon.
