District authorities in Kampong Thom province on Tuesday arrested a Kampong Cham man who was allegedly driving a van hauling illegal wildlife and timber, according to Mom Sophal, chief of the Forestry Administration office in Kampong Thmor.

Sophal said that Santuk district Military Police and Kampong Thmor Forestry Administration rangers pulled Teng Tai over after officials were tipped off that he allegedly transports wildlife.

After stopping his van, police inspected the vehicle and found two bags weighing a total of 23kg containing nine civets, one bag of geckos weighing 5kg and 0.12 cubic metres of thnong luxury wood.

Tai’s van was impounded and the animals were released back into the wild.

Sophal said Tai was fined 16 million riel ($4,000) and was released after signing an agreement to stop capturing rare wildlife.