Man tries to smuggle 27 snakes on a plane
A Brazilian man tried to smuggle 27 snakes worth $10,000 onto a flight departing from Orlando International Airport. He was arrested after security x-ray scanners detected the snakes hiding in his luggage.
ORLANDO, Fla — "Snakes on a Plane" almost became a reality for passengers on a flight from Orlando to Sao Paulo, Brazil when a man tried to board a flight with 27 snakes tucked into his luggage.
Mateus Dal Maso might have been watching too many Samuel L. Jackson movies but his plot to smuggle snakes back to his native Brazil was foiled by airport security, reports the Orlando Sentinel.
AP reports that Dal Maso individually wrapped the serpents inside nylon stockings and hid them in old stereo speakers in his luggage. The snakes, worth an estimated $10,000, were detected when the suitcases went through x-ray security scanners.
"Who would go through the process to think of all that?" Brittany Webb, an Alabama resident who flew into OIA Thursday night, told WKMG. "I guess he really wanted his snakes."
Dal Maso was stopped during boarding of Wednesday's flight 8111 to Sao Paulo and admitted the snakes were hidden in his luggage. The man told U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers that he bought the snakes at the Reptile Breeders' Expo in Daytona, FL this past weekend and was trying to get them back to Brazil, reports WKMG.
The Orlando Sentinel reports Dal Maso was found guilty of exporting illegal merchandise and served two days in jail and was fined $6,000.
The snake's current whereabouts are unknown.