Man imprisoned for smuggling tiger bones, ivory

JINAN?- A court in East China's Shandong province confirmed on Monday that in October it had sentenced a man to six-years' imprisonment for trafficking rare animal parts.

Customs officers on March 21 discovered wild animal parts, worth an estimated 700,000 yuan ($ 114,211) in three suitcases belonging to the convict, identified only by the surnamed Zhang, at Jinan International Airport in Shandong, according to the Jinan Intermediate People's Court.

Zhang, a resident of Zhejiang province, flew from Hong Kong to Jinan with the controlled item he had smuggled from Indonesia, including a tiger's skull that has a street value of 480,000 yuan, ivory products worth 200,000 yuan and other animal parts.

The verdict was given on Oct 23, Zhang was also fined 50,000 yuan, the court said.