Indian officials have seized one of their biggest-ever hauls of tiger and leopard skins in a raid on an illegal taxidermist's workshop.

Four people were arrested.

A conservation spokesman said the animals - more than seventy of them - appeared to have been poisoned, as their skins contained no bullet holes.

Tigers and leopards are endangered species and protected under Indian law.

Police said the skins were to have been smuggled to south-east Asia and the Gulf, where it is still prestigious to display them.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service