SNAKES ON A PLANE

I can see why the bag burst open, but seven years in prison? Poor Mr. Wong was only trying to make a sequel of the movie.
　
SMUGGLER’S BAG BURSTS OPEN AT AIRPORT… TO REVEAL 95 LIVE SNAKES
　
Mail Online
September 3, 2010
　
A Malaysian man admitted wildlife smuggling after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyor belt at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
　
Keng Liang 'Anson' Wong, 52, who was previously convicted of wildlife trafficking in the US, was charged on Wednesday in a district court with exporting the endangered boas without a permit, said Shamsuddin Osman of Malaysia's wildlife department.
　
The offence carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine.
　
Wong was arrested on August 26 after airport authorities found the boa constrictors, together with a few other snakes and a turtle, when his bag broke open on a luggage conveyor belt.
　
Wong was on his way from Malaysia's northern Penang state to Indonesia's capital Jakarta.
　
The court will reconvene on Monday pending Wong's appointment of a lawyer, Shamsuddin said.
　
He said the criminal charges involve the boas only, because the other animals are not listed as endangered. All of the animals are alive and under the care of wildlife officials, Mr Shamsuddin said.
　
A decade ago Wong was sentenced to almost six years in prison in the US for running an animal-smuggling ring that prosecutors said imported and sold more than 300 protected reptiles native to Asia and Africa from 1996 until Wong's arrest in Mexico in 1998. It is unclear whether he served the full term.
　
Activists say the illegal wildlife trade used to flourish in Malaysia until the country recently stepped up efforts to crack down on it.
　
In July parliament passed a new law to punish poachers and smugglers more severely, but the act has not yet taken effect.