Wildlife officers rescued a four-month-old tiger cub being sold for 12,000 USD in Thailand.

Authorities posed as buyers in a sting operation after the poachers agreed to meet up in Bang Yai District, Nonthaburi province on April 6.

Upon confirming that the sellers had the baby tiger with them, officers immediately arrested Peeraphon, 23, Pornthiwa, 30, and Chatri, 40, who held the animal inside a basket while waiting in a car.

The cub was taken to the Wildlife Conservation Office where it would have a DNA test to know where it really came from but the poachers claimed they caught it from Laos.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Kasidet Charoenlarp from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division said: ‘The three had confessed to the crime. They said they caught the tiger from Laos and then sold to potential buyers in Thailand.

‘They also described their operations, one would import the tiger from Laos while two of them would be handling the marketing.’

During the entrapment operation, Peeraphon and Pornthiwa showed up at the parking lot of Central Westgate Mall where they took the money and escorted the agents to their car where their partner Chatri was waiting.

Chatri held the cub in a blue basket and upon confirmation that they had the juvenile wild animal, they were arrested.

The cub was healthy but would have to receive special care in the facility because of its young age. Investigations on the incident are ongoing.