Beijing: In a major seizure, custom officials in China have recovered 68,000 pieces of python skins worth USD 48 million and apprehended 16 people in connection with the smuggling.
A total of 16 suspects were caught in a raid in five cities of Hainan, Fujian and Guangxi on January 29, customs officials of Haikou, capital of Hainan province said. A local company is alleged to have obtained a wild animal import license to produce folk instruments, but smuggled python skins from Vietnam since 2014, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The company is also alleged to have made false customs declarations to avoid taxes of 11 million yuan. Pythons are protected in China. Import of python skin is tightly controlled by the government and needs a license.
