Transportation securityMan smuggles 600 snakes, reptiles on bus
Acting on tip-off, police in Argentina searched the luggage of a bus passenger traveling from Santiago del Estero to Buenos Aires; the luggage contained 444 boas, vipers, and other snakes; 186 endangered tortoises; 40 lizards, and an armadillo
Snakes in a suitcase smuggling attempt // Source: care2.com
Passengers on a bus in Argentina got an unwelcome surprise when police found more than 600 snakes and other reptiles packed in the luggage compartment, a ranger said Saturday.
AFP reports that the police, acting on a tip-off, intercepted the bus in a northern province bound for Buenos Aires, asked to see passengers’ documents, then began poking into their bags. “A passenger came onboard with 40 snakes, plus what he had in the boxes” in the bus luggage hold, said ranger Daniel Chersich, warden of Santa Fe province.
The trafficker had loaded them with 444 boas, vipers, and other snakes; 186 endangered tortoises; 40 lizards, and an armadillo.
The smuggler, who was arrested, boarded the bus in Santiago del Estero, where he had spent three months trapping various species in the bush with the intent of selling them, Chersich said.
