A Chinese man was discovered smuggling 100 live snakes in his pants

The country’s customs administration said that a guy was captured attempting to smuggle more than 100 live snakes into mainland China by stuffing them down his pants.

China Customs said in a statement on Tuesday that the unidentified traveler was stopped by customs officers as he attempted to elude detection from semi-autonomous Hong Kong and enter the border city of Shenzhen.

“Upon inspection, customs officers discovered that the pockets of the trousers the passenger was wearing were packed with six canvas drawstring bags and sealed with tape,” the statement said.

“Once opened, each bag was found to contain living snakes in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours,” it added.

According to the statement, 104 scaly reptiles—many of which were non-native species—including milk and corn snakes were taken by the officers.

An accompanying video showed two border agents peering into transparent plastic bags filled with squirming red, pink and white snakes.

China is one of the major global hotspots for animal trafficking, but in recent years, the government has toughened its enforcement of the illegal trade.

It is against the nation’s biosecurity and disease control rules for anyone to import non-native species without authorization.

The customs authority stated, “Those who break the rules will be… held liable in accordance with the law,” but they did not say what the man’s punishment would be.

AFP