Smuggler caught after bag holding 95 boa constrictors bursts open at airport

[mike r]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/03/smuggler-boa-constrictors

Smuggler caught after bag holding 95 boa constrictors bursts open at airport
A man has pleaded guilty after his bag containing snakes broke open on a luggage belt at Kuala Lumpur International airport
Associated Press

A Malaysian man has pleaded guilty to wildlife smuggling after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyer belt at Kuala Lumpur International airport, an official said.

Keng Liang "Anson" Wong, 52, who was previously convicted of wildlife trafficking in the United States, was charged on Wednesday in a district court for exporting the endangered boas without a permit, said Shamsuddin Osman, an official with Malaysia's wildlife department. The offence carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine, Shamsuddin said.

Wong was arrested on 26 August after airport authorities found the boa constrictors, together with a few other snakes and a turtle, when his bag broke open on a luggage conveyor belt. Wong was transiting from Malaysia's northern Penang state to Indonesia's capital Jakarta...

A decade ago, Wong was sentenced to almost six years in prison in the U.S. for running an animal-smuggling ring that prosecutors said imported and sold more than 300 protected reptiles native to Asia and Africa from 1996 until Wong's arrest in Mexico in 1998...

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Is that a snake in your pocket or are you .................?

[razorman]

2. I hate it when that happens.

[provis99]

3. Snakes on a plane!

Sorry.

[Mz Pip]

4. At least it didn't happen

while they were on the plane.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Remind me to stay out of the Kuala Lumpur airport

:scared:

[xchrom]

6. Surprise!!! Nt

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. It must have been crushing for him to get caught, again. :)

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. Classic case of being in the Wong place at the Wong time.