Someone tried to smuggle a snake onto a plane by hiding it in a hard drive
Snakes on a plane? Not today.
TSA agents in Miami intercepted an attempt at smuggling a live python onto a plane on Sunday. In an pun-filled Instagram post, the TSA detailed how a passenger tried to get a ball python from Miami to Barbados by tucking it into an external hard drive.
Snakes on Barbados are actually quite rare, so an invasive species such as a ball python could cause serious damage to the local ecosystem.
The python didn't manage to Slytherin to the plane.
"If you think airplane seats are constricting, imagine how this little guy felt!" the post says.
The poor snake was coiled into a nylon stocking. In the TSA's words, "this python had not gone full monty."
The snake was found in a checked bag. When TSA agents found an organic mass during a screening, they called in bomb experts to investigate the hard drive. Instead of an explosive, they found a very much alive python.
"While the python itself posed no danger to anyone on the aircraft," the statement posted to Instagram said, "an organic item concealed inside electronics raises security concerns, which is why our officers took a closer look."
Agents called the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which took the snake into its care and fined the sneaky passenger.
"Both the traveler and the snake missed their flight," the TSA said.
Topics Animals
