Events
A recent incident at an international airport in Florida shocked many of even the most experienced security officers. A man tried to smuggle 26 live snakes from the United States to Brazil.
While scanning luggage, airport employees found suspicious creatures hidden in a stereo system carried by one of the passengers. Imagine the surprise of the guards when they opened it and removed as many as 26 live reptiles from there. The sources that provided the information did not specify what breed of reptiles were.
Mateus dal Masco bought the snakes at a reptile show in Daytona Beach, Florida. He admitted that the total cost of the snakes was less than 10 thousand US dollars.
The smuggler was found guilty of exporting illegal cargo. He paid a fine of 6,000 and was arrested for two days by Orange County police officers. Interestingly, the fine was less than what the smuggler expected to receive in case of a successful deal in Brazil.
In addition to this topic, it's worth adding that a few months earlier, Indian animal rights advocates had launched an appeal. According to them, the ancient tradition of using live snakes in religious rituals and so popular among ordinary Hindus should be abolished. Live reptiles can be replaced by artificial ones.