CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Customs officers at Cairo’s airport detained an Egyptian man who was trying to smuggle 700 live snakes on a plane to Saudi Arabia.
The slithery stowaways were discovered in a carry-on bag after officers asked the man to open it. He told them the bag contained live snakes and warned them to stay back.
Among the various snakes hidden in small cloth sacks were two poisonous cobras, authorities said.
The suspect said the snakes are wanted by Saudis, who display them in glass jars in shops, keep them as pets or sell them to research centres. Police confiscated the snakes and turned the man over to the prosecutor’s office, accusing him of violating export laws and endangering the lives of other passengers.