Snake eyes: Reptile found in hard drive at Miami airport

MIAMI – A passenger with a python hidden inside an external hard drive was stopped from boarding a Florida plane headed to Barbados.

The Miami Herald reports that officers screening luggage at the Miami International Airport Sunday found an “organic mass” inside a checked bag. Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Sari Koshetz says a bomb expert then examined the bag and discovered the live snake in the hard drive.

She says the snake was “obviously not an imminent terrorist threat,” but its interception prevented a possible wildlife threat. The passenger was fined, and the snake was taken into custody by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services. The passenger’s name was not released. Neither the passenger nor snake made the flight.

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This story changes references of man to passenger as the gender of the passenger is unclear.

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Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com