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Police: Thai man was raising 6 tigers on rooftop

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ASSOCIATED PRESS
A juvenile tiger stands in its enclosure on the roof top of an apartment building in Pathum Thani proivince, central Thailand Monday, Sept. 10, 2012. A Thai man has been arrested for illegally raising six tigers on the rooftop of an apartment building on Bangkok?s outskirts, in a follow-up bust of a larger tiger trafficking ring in the country. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong)

PATHUM THANI, Thailand >> A Thai man has been arrested and accused of illegally raising six tigers on top of an apartment building on Bangkok’s outskirts after police busted a larger tiger-trafficking ring in the country.

Environmental police acting on a tip found four adult and two juvenile tigers on a rusty caged compound on the rooftop of a four-story apartment in a residential neighborhood in Pathum Thani province Monday.

Police say the apartment’s caretaker told them he owned the animals but was authorized to raise only two of them; 28-year-old Surasak Bunthienthong has been initially charged with illegal possession of protected wild animals.

Police Lt. Col. Adtapon Sudsai said an investigation showed the apartment was a transit spot for tiger trading in Thailand, where tigers are illegally sold for skin, fangs and organs.

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