2010-08-25 16:50

HOHHOT - Two Russian men may face prosecution for smuggling bear paws into China, after they were seized by Chinese police at a China-Russia land border in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in June, Chinese customs police said Wednesday.

The two men - Arjom Mihailovich Morozov and Aleksandr Vasilievich Ososkov - were the drivers of the train that transported the bear paws into China through the border city of Manzhouli, said Wang Shengjia, the customs police chief in the border city.

"Police have referred the case to the local procuratorate," he said.

The two Russians have admitted to smuggling the 15 Brown bear paws into China by hiding them under the train's floor.

Bear paws are considered a delicacy in some parts of China or can be used in traditional medicine.

Brown bears are on China's second-class state protection list and hunting or trading in their body parts is illegal.

The 15 bear paws are worth about 93,900 yuan (US$13,809) on the Chinese black market.