Two Mongolian men have been detained by Chinese police after two snow leopard pelts were seized from their jeep in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Customs police searched the jeep for more than 10 hours, as it had more than 40 hidden compartments for storing things.

The pelts and a snow leopard skull hidden in the jeep were valued at more than USD29,000. The suspects tried to smuggle the goods into China through a road customs check-point in Alxa League, which sits on China“s border with Mongolia.

The snow leopard is one of the world”s most endangered animals. Smugglers of endangered animal parts with a total value of over USD14,500 can be sentenced to more than five years.