Border authorities announced Tuesday they stopped a man at the San Ysidro border crossing with a few unwelcome slithering friends.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said they discovered 52 bags of reptiles, including 43 horned lizards and nine snakes, in and under a 30-year-old man’s clothes attempting to drive across the border.
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“Smugglers will try every possible way to try and get their product — or in this case, live reptiles — across the border,” said Sidney Aki, CBP director of field operations in San Diego. “The smuggler attempted to deceive CBP officers in order to bring these animals into the U.S. without taking care for the health and safety of the animals.”
Authorities said they found the reptiles when conducting an inspection of a 2018 GMC truck on Feb. 25 at around 3 a.m. In the process of a personal search, they found the bags “concealed in the man’s jacket, pants pockets, and groin area,” according to a news release.
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The man, a U.S. citizen, was arrested and later booked at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Reptiles seized at the border were placed in a “secure and safe area,” with several requiring quarantine because they were endangered species.
