BANGKOK (January 5, 2012) – A brazen attempt to smuggle four complete tiger skins and bones via common post was foiled by Royal Thai Customs this week in the southern city of Hat Yai.

Worth an estimated 2 million THB (60,000 USD) on the black market, the contraband was destined for Mae Sai in the country’s north, before Customs agents intervened.

Displaying the seizure at a press conference today in Bangkok, the Director General of Royal Thai Customs, Mr. Somchai Poolsawasdi, surmised that stronger law enforcement against traffickers using road routes had prompted them to try using the postal service. Royal Thai Customs vowed to continue investigating the case.

“The confiscation of these tiger skins and bones is commendable and has clearly hurt the criminals financially. However, with so few tigers left in the wild, stopping any more ending up like this is vital. Traffickers must be investigated, caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if we’re going to have any chance of averting the extinction of this magnificent animal,” said FREELAND Foundation’s Tim Redford.

Poaching and trafficking of tiger meat, bones and skin has been a key cause of a precipitous decline in wild tiger populations in Asia. Numbers are estimated to have fallen to only 3,200 tigers worldwide, from approximately 100,000 a century ago.