The suspects may have been planning to sell the skin to a foreign collector, while its bones were earlier sold, possibly for use in medicinal products popular in some parts of Asia, authorities said.

It was not clear how the foetuses, which were kept in a jar, were to be used.

The evidence was presented by police at a press briefing Sunday after they announced three people had been arrested at the weekend.

“We suspect that they would sell the skin to collectors, not only in Indonesia,” Edward Hutapea, wildlife enforcement chief in Pekanbaru on Sumatra island, told AFP on Monday.