CALCUTTA, India Two Russians have been arrested for illegally trapping butterflies in the fareastern Indian state of Sikkim, officials here said on Sunday.

They said the pair, who have given their names as Oleg Ammossov and Victor Siniaev, were arrested July 30 in Sikkim's main forest area and were charged under India's wildlife protection act, AFP reported.

Police said a local court ordered the two, who identified themselves as entomologists from the Moscow-based Academy of Sciences, to be remanded in prison until August 9 when they would be tried for trapping butterflies, moths and beetles, most of them endangered species.

The two pleaded before the court that they were unaware of Indian laws and had entered Sikkim from neighboring Nepal last week purely on a scientific mission, officials said from the state capital of Gangtok.

Two Indian porters and two Nepalese were also taken into custody on charges of violating Indian laws.

A senior official of the Sikkim state government said the two Russians collected around 22 kilograms (48.4 pounds) of butterflies and moths from the Yuksom forests, outside Gangtok.

They had used powerful lights to lure the insects into specially designed nets, the official said.