MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested on Thursday a man who allegedly sold endangered species online, an official said yesterday.

The NBI’s Environmental Crime Division caught Rey Asiodche in a sting at a store along Recto Avenue in Manila Thursday night and presented him to the media yesterday, said NBI-EnCD chief Czar Eric Nuqui.

Asiodche sold to NBI agents 24 animals – tarantulas, scorpions and baboons – worth P15,000 during the sting. He was arrested when he failed to present any permit to possess and sell the animals.

In a test buy on Jan. 19, he sold two Asian forest scorpions (Heterometrus longimanus), a kind of scorpion found only in Palawan, for P1,000 each to NBI agents.

Nuqui said Asiodche would use social media sites to sell the animals, which he would either send via courier services or deliver by meeting with clients in person.

The animals would be stuffed in speakers, PVC pipes or socks for delivery, he added.

The NBI charged Asiodche with illegal possession and trading of wildlife, in relation to the anti-cybercrime law, with the Department of Justice. He faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.