Man attempts to board flight with snakes in his pants

Imagine being on the same plane as... snakes?

In a tweet on Wednesday, May 1, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials said that the security checkpoint at Miami International Airport discovered a small pouch containing snakes in a traveler's pants.

As seen in photos uploaded by the TSA, the man placed his animal friends in a small bag that appears to be a container for sunglasses. It seems that small packaging material was used to hide the snakes better.

Officers at @iflymia detected this bag of snakes hidden in a passenger’s pants at a checkpoint on Fri, April 26. @TSA called our @CBPSoutheast and Miami-Dade Police partners in to assist, and the snakes were turned over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. pic.twitter.com/CggJob8IT8

— TSA_Gulf (@TSA_Gulf) April 30, 2024

Authorities said that they reached out to the US Customs and Border Protection and the Miami Dade Police Department to take care of the matter. The snakes were later sent to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.  

The TSA said the incident happened last April 26. According to news outlet WFTV, the passenger tried to go on the flight but was denied after the snakes were found in his jeans.

The US Department of Transportation said on its website that "federal and state governments impose restrictions on transporting live animals." It added that "each airline establishes its own company policy for the proper handling of the animals they transport."

This isn't the first time that a passenger tried to bring a snake with them on a trip. In January 2023, the TSA said that a woman tried to bring a 4-foot boa constrictor with her "for emotional support” by placing it in a carry-on bag, but her attempt didn’t turn out well.

In November 2022, a similar incident happened with a live orange cat, which was discovered inside a luggage at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York when it was put through the x-ray machine. It was freed before the suitcase was loaded into the airplane’s pressurized cargo hold.