One Thai man and one Vietnamese man were arrested by police in the Southeast Asian country on Tuesday after they had allegedly attempted to smuggle some 120 dogs into Vietnam where they were to be slaughtered for human consumption. Police said a tip from a local resident gave them the ability to track down the two men and the trucks that were carrying the dogs, which had been stuffed into bags, in Nakhon Phanom province in northern Thailand near Laos. Police arrested the two drivers, a 24-year-old Thai and 23-year-old Vietnamese. The two men then confessed to the illegal transport of the animals. They face charges of illegally transporting animals, unlicensed trade of animals and cruelty to animals. They could also be charged with transporting unvaccinated animals. “They were hired to drive the vehicles to the border, where the dogs would be sent off to Vietnam,” a police source was reported as saying. Police said 31 of the dogs were dead and the remaining 89 will be taken to a center that cares for rescued dogs in Nakhon Phanom, 370 miles (600 kilometres) northeast of Bangkok. It is not the first time dogs have been attempted to be smuggled out of Thailand. In mid-August, about 1,800 dogs were rescued from smugglers in Nakhon Phanom, police said. Their rescue made national news and after learning of their sad state Thais donated more than 20 million baht ($667,000) to help the animals. Thai media reported on Tuesday, however, that as many as half of those dogs had died at the centre because they arrived in such poor health. Dog meat is a delicacy in Vietnam and is served at restaurants in some parts of the country's north. BM