Snakes on the plane no movie for Phillipines authorities
X-ray screener finds 60 snakes stuffed into two suitcases; reptile smuggling a major problem in Southeast Asia; consequences for smuggler, animals unknown
Airline officials in the Phillipines may not be as well-trained as in the United States, but their tropical lifestyle gives them one advantage: the ability to identify poisonous reptiles. In a story that would surely cause Donald Rumsfeld to exclaim, “Heavens to Betsy!”, airport authorities last week foiled a woman’s attempt to smuggle more than 100 snakes and lizards aboard a plane. The vicuous creatures — fifty monitor lizards, thirty-nine cobras, and twenty-one vipers among them —were stuffed into two large suitcases. Fortunately, a screener happened to notice one of the snakes and the smuggler was detained. No word on what became of these would-be snakes on a plane, but as the smuggler herself is in some hot soup, maybe it would be just if they joined her there. With just a pinch of salt for taste.
-read more in this AP report
