Mainland China customs seizes more than 100 snakes from man at Hong Kong-Shenzhen border

Mainland Chinese customs officers have seized more than 100 live snakes concealed in a man’s trousers as he tried to cross the border from Hong Kong into Shenzhen.

The unidentified man was intercepted at the Futian port in Shenzhen on Tuesday while attempting to enter the mainland through the green “Nothing to Declare Channel”.

“Upon inspection, customs officers found that the pockets of his trousers ... contained six canvas drawstring bags that were sealed with tape,” the General Administration of Customs said on social media platform Weibo.

“Each bag contained multiple live snakes of various colours and shapes.”

The spokesman added that a total of 104 serpents were seized, comprising five species – milk snake, western hognose snake, corn snake, pilot black snake and bull snake.

All five species are not native to China and the western hognose snake is considered mildly venomous.

An accompanying video released by the administration also showed customs officers inspecting six transparent plastic bags filled with red, pink and white squiggling snakes, often sought out as exotic pets.