Major Snake Smuggling Ring Broken

Officials in Vietnam have broken up a major snake smuggling operation in that country. The snakes, cleverly disguised as boxes labeled "live fish" were trying to get themselves into Vietnam via Indonesia. Vietnam has harsh penalties for captured smugglers, too.

"The snakes were alive when they were found in the cargo," a quarantine officer at Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport told AFP. "Seven hundred snakes were later destroyed when no-one claimed ownership."

The reptiles were found on December 19 in a container that arrived on flight TG 682 from Indonesia. Accompanying paperwork identified the content as "live fish", the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported.

We here at Blue Crab Boulevard believe that the snakes were trying to infiltrate the Vietnamese shoe industry, which is quite extensive. We have, of course, documented many times the weird fascination that snakes have with shoes.