Snakes and horned lizards in the pants: this is the daring method that a smuggler had chosen to try to introduce the reptiles into the United States.
When the man, a 30-year-old American, was intercepted at the end of February at the border with Mexico near San Diego (California), customs officers discovered a total of 52 animals hidden on his person.
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It is not known if it was a suspicious movement under his clothes that caught the attention of customs officers when he arrived at the border but they asked him to pull over to search him.
The smuggler had locked the reptiles - nine snakes and 43 horned lizards - in small plastic bags which he had hidden "
under his jacket, in the pockets of his pants and at the level of his crotch
", explain the American customs in a press release released on Monday.
"
Smugglers are willing to try anything to try to get their products, or in this case live reptiles, across the border
," said Sidney Aki, one of San Diego.
The animals, some of which belong to endangered species, were placed under observation while the smuggler was arrested.