Another 712 pangolins destined to become ingredients in Chinese menus and medicines were seized from smugglers yesterday.

Acting on a tip-off, forestry police stopped and searched a six-wheel truck on Phetkasem road in Chumphon's Lang Suan district.

The pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters, were hidden in 70 plastic crates surrounded by empty fruit baskets.

The animals would have fetched about 10 million baht if sold abroad, Pol Lt-Col Watcharin Phusin said.

It was believed they had been smuggled in from Malaysia and were to be kept at a fruit market in Bangkok before being shipped to China.

Truck driver Samniang Polduan, 26, and Prawate Absaeng, 32, both of Nakhon Si Thammarat, told police the truck belonged to a fruit trader in Bangkok, identified only as Chai. They denied any knowledge about the smuggling of pangolins, but were charged with having protected animals in their possession.