Customs agents have discovered live boas that smugglers had attempted to hide in a shipment of noodles and two lorry toys bound for the UK.
The suspicious package reportedly arrived at the Leipzig Airport, Saxony State, Germany from Indonesia and was taken aside for closer inspection on 6th November.
Airport officials decided to run the shipment through an X-ray scanner.
They were stunned upon discovering more than a dozen live snakes within the seemingly ordinary items.
The Dresden Main Customs Office said in a statement: “In the first toy trailer, there were actually nine small snakes, one of which did not survive the transport.
“The second opened trailer contained five larger live snakes.”
The statement continued: “The DHL fire department was contacted to remove the animals using appropriate protective equipment.
“Since it was not possible to clearly identify the snakes by simply looking at them, customs officers took pictures of the snakes and asked experts from the Senckenberg Institute in Dresden to identify the exact species.
“The results are now in, the larger snakes have been identified as juvenile Pacific Boas (Viper Boa, Candoia paulsoni).
“Since there was no permit for the transit of these young boas, they were confiscated.
“The smaller snakes, also examined, were identified as slug-eating snakes, which have no protected status.
“The reptiles have been temporarily housed at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Leipzig University.”
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Story By: Georgina Jedikovska, Sub-Editor: Georgina Jedikovska, Agency: Newsflash
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