Snakes alive! It’s a python – and a croc
While snakeskin boots or a pair of Crocs would hardly raise an eyebrow during any routine police search, Eastern Cape police were left wide-eyed near the Lesotho border early on Friday when they discovered a large, live crocodile and a nearly 2m-long snake in the boot of a car.
The “lucky” 5am bust – which police ascribed to a proverbial case of the early bird catching the worm (um, snake and crocodile) – took place at a junction between Qatcha’s Neck on the Lesotho border and the town of Maluti in the far northwest of the province.
Three South African men were arrested at the scene.
“Qatcha’s Neck police were conducting normal patrols as part of their local #safetyFridays programme, which is directed ensuring the safety of the public and their property on roads in the region,” police spokesperson Captain Khaya Tonjeni said.
“Police members there were conducting vehicle stops and searches when they pulled a sedan over.
“A 1.9m-long snake, which we believe is an African python, and a Nile crocodile were discovered in the boot of the vehicle.
“It was certainly a surprise discovery.
“If we had not been doing the searches so early, we would have missed the vehicle.
“We believe the suspects were trying to transport the reptiles without being caught by travelling on quiet back roads in the early morning.”
He said the suspects had been travelling from the direction of Lesotho.
He said tape had been placed over the crocodile’s eyes and on other parts of the reptile to keep it from moving while in transit.
Tonjeni said the 39-year-old male driver of the vehicle and two male passengers aged 27 and 39 had been arrested.
The men have been charged with the illegal possession of reptiles and are expected to appear in the Maluti Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
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