Police and national park officials arrested a Thai couple and seized fourtiger cubs worth 2 million baht this morning inMukdahan province in northeast Thailand. Despite officers luring the couple to arrest by posing as interested customers, they panicked and told police they planned on raising the tigers themselves.

Just a few months ago, the mastermind behind the seizure, Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn (pictured left) – a former national park chief – was indicted over the murder of Karen activist Porlajee “Billy” Rakchongcharoen in 2014.

National park officials and police caught wind that a Thai couple were selling prohibited wildlife in northeast Thailand and planned to meet them in the car park of a hotel near the bus station in Mukdahan province at 5.30am this morning. The officers agreed to buy the cubs for a price of 2 million baht.

Sure enough, police found four baby tigers in the back of the couple’s pickup truck. Officers arrested the driver, 63 year old Thanad Wongsan, and his wife [name unknown] from Chiang Rai province. Police seized the cubs and the vehicle.

The couple told police they were not actually selling the cubs and planned on raising the tigers themselves. The couple said the tigers came from “another country” and were delivered to them in Thailand. They said they did not know where the cubs had come from.

The couple were arrested by Pol. Col. Thanatchon Kengkasikij from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Division accompanied by the controversial Director of Conservation Area 9 Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn.