GUANGZHOU, May 13 -- Border police in south China's Guangdong Province have seized hundreds of dead pangolins while busting a wildlife trafficking case, local authorities said on Tuesday.

The police found 956 pangolin carcasses weighing a total of nearly four tonnes hidden in 189 cool boxes on Monday.

They were acting on a tip-off that that some people had been smuggling endangered animals. They identified a trafficker's driving path, stopped the suspect vehicle and arrested the driver on the spot.

"This is one of the biggest pangolin trafficking cases in China," a border policeman said. The case in still under investigation.

Pangolins, which are under second-class state protection in China, are often smuggled because their meat is considered a delicacy and their scales are believed to have medical qualities.

Under China's criminal law, those who illegally catch, kill, buy or sell endangered wild animals on the state's key protection list could face more than 10 years in jail and fines.