A python in pants no longer surprises anyone in Thailand (6 photos)

Do you know what customs officers at Thai airports most often look for when inspecting people leaving the country? They try to feel a snake of some rare breed.





Will such a bag fit in your pants?

A violator was recently caught again: a resident of Sri Lanka was arrested at Bangkok airport after three snakes were found in his underwear. During a personal search, a royal python was found hidden in a mesh bag in his underwear. When they took the bag out, it turned out that there were three royal pythons in it.



Photographed evidence that "still remembers the warmth"

These brown pythons are classified as a species included in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. That is, they are a rare exotic animal. Their export or import without official permission is prohibited. For attempting to export wild animals without permission, the suspect can face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to 1 million baht, or both.

Laughter, sin and everyday life at customs





Snakes are the most popular contraband

The thing is that these are not the first snakes found in underwear. This is regular contraband, with which they are already tired of catching criminals. It just so happens that snakes and pythons are the most convenient for theft. People often try to smuggle wolves, meerkats, cockatoos, sugar gliders, porcupines and iguanas out of Thailand. But few animals can fit in a trouser leg and will lie quietly and not make any noise.



Moreover, adult pythons are a real nuisance for residents of Thailand, they crawl into houses through old sewer pipes

Before the order was issued to scan people, animals had to be searched for manually, feeling visitors. And then, not wanting to touch a man too intimately in the groin, pythons in underwear were often missed. But three pythons is, of course, too much and too much self-esteem that he will not be suspected with such "wealth". Now, if there is a suspicion, passengers are sent for an X-ray, but if the snakes are small and hidden between the legs under the genitals, they can also slip through!



People with high self-esteem try to hide a three-meter python in their pants

Yes, even modern machines cannot always detect the transportation of a python. Therefore, it was decided to always put a man under inspection, supposedly it is easier for him to suspect whether everything is in order with the size or shape of the genitals of such a python smuggler. Animals, and especially snakes, are being smuggled out of the country in an endless stream. In the last three years alone, more than 7,000 animals, both alive and dead, have been seized on the Thailand-India air route. And last year, one person tried to smuggle on himself... 16 live snakes! Now that's a real snake charmer. But not customs officers. At least a hundred snakes pass through customs every month.



Do you know what a customs officer in Thailand should be like? A snake lover. He looks at them with such love, maybe they'll give him a bonus

So they recruit people to customs at the airport in Thailand according to some pretty funny requirements. You have to be good at identifying male genitalia by touch, and most importantly, not be afraid of amphibians. I don't think I would have passed either the first or the second requirement...