Border guards discover rare snakes in Palestinian’s luggage
Smuggler taken into custody, snakes transferred to Parks Authority
By Noam (Dabul) Dvir
Security guards on the Israeli border with Jordan were surprised on Sunday during a routine security check, when the X-ray machine used to check luggage, suddenly revealed three snakes that were hidden in the bag of a Palestinian man from Ramallah.
The guards asked the man to open his luggage, and in it they found a plastic box with three rare snakes. The man attempted to smuggle the snakes into Israel.
The three snakes were the Burmese Python, the Albino python and the “milk-skin” snake. The total value of the three rare reptiles is estimated at NIS 4,000 ($1,036).
The suspect was immediately taken into custody. According to the police, the suspect admitted to knowingly attempting to smuggle the snakes into Israel for personal possession.
He was released shortly after being questioned. The three snakes were transferred to the Nature and Parks Authority.
View original Ynet publication at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4289574,00.html