Snakes on a plane – really!

Vietnamese authorities seized more than a ton of snakes that were smuggled into the country on a Vietnam Airlines flight from Thailand. The Associated Press says “thousands of non-venomous rat snakes” were sent on the flight as cargo. The 60 boxes of snakes had been declared as live fish. AP says “many of the snakes, which were surrounded by plastic filled with ice water, died,” according to local officials. It’s also not the first time that Vietnamese authorities have had to deal with snakes. Last month, they found more than 1,540 pounds of dead snakes on a Thai Airways flight. Vietnam Airlines spokesman Trinh Ngoc Thanh says he suspects a problem with cargo inspection at Bangkok. “We plan to send a letter to the Bangkok airport authorities urging them to enhance inspection to avoid this incident from happening again,” Thanh tells AP.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2008/01/snakes-on-a-pla.html

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