The 40-year-old man was carrying two cardboard boxes containing a tiger's skin, skulls, tail and its body and leg bones when he was arrested on Saturday in the Bengkulu Tengah district on the island of Sumatra.

Eduward Hutapea, head of the Environment and Forest Ministry's law enforcement agency on Sumatra, said that, based on the tiger skin's condition, it looked like the rare animal was killed in a snare trap.

The island is home to Indonesia's last remaining tiger population, the critically endangered Sumatran tiger. Only about 400 of them are left in the wild.

"Wildlife trade is an extraordinary crime which involves multiple layers of perpetrators' network and it has high economic value," Hutapea said.

The illegal wildlife trade in Indonesia is punishable by a maximum of five years imprisonment and a fine of up to 100 million rupiah ($A9,230 dollars).

Sustyo Iriyono, a Forestry Ministry official, said the ministry has set up a cyberpatrol team to map out the illegal online trade of protected plants and wildlife.

According to the ministry, it has conducted 389 raids against the illegal trade of protected flora and fauna in the country, leading to 318 cases that have gone to trial.

Australian Associated Press