Forestry police in Xining, capital of northwest China's Qinghai Province received word that illegal transaction of snow leopards furs was going on in central Gansu when they were investigating into another case relating to illegal transportation of snow leopard samples, the spokesman said.

The police followed the new tip and found that a resident surnamed Ma in Linxia of central Gansu had purchased furs of protected animals in a very large quantity.

On July 28, police raided Ma's home and his rented apartment, and seized 104 furs of rare wild animals, including bears, snow leopards, clouded leopards and lynxes. They also found skeletons of these endangered animals.

Ma confessed that he had been buying the furs and bones from Qinghai and Tibet since last November and made a profit of 4,000 yuan (about 520 US dollars) by selling two snow leopards furs.

The spokesman said this has been the largest number of snow leopard furs that have been seized in history in China since 1949, and Ma is under further investigation.