Two men have been arrested in Muang district of Nong Khai province with 52 pangolins believed destined for Laos, police said.

Roongsaeng Inthalaeng, 42, and Charnnarong Songsukhon, 33, both from Loei's Nong Hin district, were arrested on charge of having protected wildlife in their possession without a permit after police found 52 pangolin in 12 plastic crates in a pick-up truck they were travelling in.

The vehicle was stopped for a search at Nong Song Hong checkpoint near Nong Khai town.

The two said they were paid 5,000 baht each by a Lao man, who was brought to see them by Sithisak Chanthasorn, the chief of tambon Tat Kha in Loei's Nong Hin district, to deliver the pangolins from a petrol station on the Mitrapap Highway near Nakhon Ratchasima town to a client in Rattana Wapi district of Nong Khai province.

They left Nakhon Ratchasima at 11pm on Tuesday night and were stopped at the checkpoint in Nong Khai at 7.30am on Wednesday.

Pangolins are known to be regularly smuggled via Laos to Vietnam and China, where their meat is considered a delicacy.

The animal's price on the blackmarket in Thailand is 3,500-4,000 baht per kilogramme, and is two or three times that in Vietnam and China.

Related search: wildlife, smuggling, Laos,