Man caught smuggling more than 100 snakes in his trousers by border agents

A man has been caught trying to smuggle more than 100 live snakes into mainland China by cramming them into his trousers, according to the country’s customs authority.

The unnamed traveller was stopped by officers as he sought to slip out of Hong Kong and into the border city of Shenzhen.

“Upon inspection, customs officers discovered that the pockets of the trousers the passenger was wearing were packed with six canvas drawstring bags and sealed with tape,” a statement from China Customs said.

“Once opened, each bag was found to contain living snakes in all kinds of shapes, sizes and colours.”

The statement added officers seized 104 reptiles, including milk snakes and corn snakes, many of which were non-native species.