Customs officials from the southern province of Hainan announced on Friday they have seized 68,000 pieces of python skins worth 310 million yuan (48 million US dollars).

A total of 16 suspects were caught in a raid in five cities of Hainan, Fujian and Guangxi on Jan. 29, according to the customs of Haikou, capital of Hainan.

A local company is alleged to have obtained a wild animal import license to produce folk instruments, but smuggled python skins from Vietnam since 2014, according to the customs.

The company is also alleged to have made false customs declarations to avoid taxes of 11 million yuan.

Pythons are protected in China. Import of python skin is tightly controlled by the government and needs a license.

The case is still under investigation.