Chinanews, Yinchuan, September 25 – 24 foreigners from a Central-Asian country were arrested on September 17 in Zhongshui County, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region for hunting falcons, which are under second-class protection in China. The 24 suspects were sent back to their country.Local police received the report of their activity on September 15, and they immediately started investigation. On the evening of September 17, the 24 suspects were caught in a rented house, with 9 falcons and several pigeons used as decoys.The police found in follow-up investigations that the suspects arrived in Zhongning and they did not register at local government offices. It is a severe crime to hunt protected animals in China, thus police informed the embassy of the country of the suspects within 48 hours after they had been arrested.The nine falcons have been transferred to local animal protection association, and will be released to the wild soon.