Volunteers release a sea turtle to the sea in Qishui bay in Wenchang, south China's Hainan Province, Nov. 7, 2020. Nineteen sea turtles, either stranded or confiscated by law enforcement, were released back to the sea on Saturday. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

More than a year after China issued a notice introducing expanded measures to fight the illegal trade of protected wildlife, it tries to deal with smuggling rings that continue to sprout up across the nation. 

Toads, lizards, turtles and other national-level protected animals are still being traded by smugglers as police continue years-long efforts to track them down. 

Police in Southwest China's Sichuan Province recently detained two individuals for illegally selling wild toads, Chinese outlet The Paper reported on Thursday.

The two suspects are a father and son team surnamed Gao who have allegedly been involved in smuggling for around two months.

The report said that the two suspects are accused of collecting a total of 519 kilograms of toads, which were packed in over 40 boxes in their basement.

The duo were drying toads captured from the wild, or purchasing already dried toads from others at 14 yuan ($2.15) each, and selling it for 18 yuan, according to the report.

The police have released the captured toads back to the wild, while the father and son have been detained pending further investigation.

This is the second toad smuggling case in China in 2021. In January, police in Emei, Sichuan, also arrested two suspects surnamed Huang and Shuai, who had collected 1,953 wild toads for illegal sale.

Additionally, in July 2020, police in South China's Guangdong Province seized three suspects for smuggling 14 rare wild animals including iguanas and yellow throat turtles.

The fight against the illegal wildlife trade is an important part of China's environmental conservation efforts. 

According to a 2020 report from China's General Administration of Customs, officials handled 467 cases of smuggling endangered wildlife, seized 1,237.6 tons of illegal animals or animal-made products including ivory and pangolin from 2009 to 2019.

China's National People's Congress issued a notice in February 2020 to introduce expanded measures to fight illegal smuggling, including more severe punishments for those involved in the illegal trade of wildlife. 

Global Times