An unusual situation has surprised customs officers at the Chinese border crossing between Hong Kong and Shenzhen. More than a hundred live snakes were found in the pants of one traveller.
Travelling from Hong Kong to mainland China, the man attempted to cross the border through the Futian border crossing. He chose a path marked with a “nothing to declare” sign but was unable to get past the watchful customs officers.
Customs officers discovered during the inspection that the traveller’s trouser pockets were stuffed with six canvas bags, tightly tied with strings and taped shut. The surprise was huge when it turned out what these bags contained. Each of the bags contained live snakes of various shapes, sizes and colours. Everything was documented in videos that later appeared on social media.
Officers seized 104 reptiles belonging to five different species of nonvenomous snakes, including milk snakes and corn snakes. Four of the species are classified as exotic, meaning they do not occur naturally in mainland China.
China, according to The Guardian, is one of the world’s largest hubs for animal smuggling. Local laws prohibit the import of species from other countries without a permit. Rangers stressed that those who break the law will be severely punished, although they did not specify what punishment the man might face.
This article was originally published by Onet.
