Four smugglers, including two Russians, were convicted of smuggling 35 bear paws into China and given penalties in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said local sources.

It was learned from a ruling given by the Intermediate People's Court of Hulun Buir City in a first-instance trial held on Wednesday.

The four convicts were Zhou Xinquan, Jiang Zhenyou, both natives of Yakeshi, a county-level city in Inner Mongolia, and two Russians who used to serve as diesel locomotive drivers on border trains from the railway station of Zabaikalsk.

The court was told that Zhou, 30, ordered paws of bears from a local trade at the market of Zabaikalsk City, Chita State of Russia, with a down payment of 25,000 ruble last December.

The Russian trader phoned Zhu in January this year telling him he had made ready 35 bear paws, but demanded for 40,000 ruble. Zhu asked one of his friends doing business in Zabaikalsk to get the bounty for him.

With the help of Jiang Zhenyou, 31, with whom Zhu made acquaintance while the two were doing business in Zabaikalsk years ago, Zhu found the two Russian locomotive drivers who colluded in hiding the bear paws inside the locamotives and smuggling the paws to the railway station in the border city of Manzhouli in Inner Mongolia.

Zhu Xinquan and Jiang Zhenyou were arrested when the duo attempted to get away with the contraband in the small hours of February 7, 2007. Their two Russian accomplices were also detained two days later.

Relevant organizations verify that the 35 bear paws were worth 180,000 yuan.

The court concluded that the four smugglers were guilty of smuggling rare animal parts and sentenced Zhu to a jail term of three years with a reprieve of three years, plus a fine of 70,000 yuan.

Jiang was sentenced to one year imprisonment with a reprieve of two years, alongside a fine of 40,000 yuan.

The two Russians were also sentenced but with no fixed jail terms. They were deported out of China. Before their deportation, they were ordered to pay 80,000 yuan in fines.

(Xinhua News Agency September 9, 2007)