A man was arrested last Tuesday after airport officials found three live King Cobra snakes stuffed inside crisp cans.
The shipment, which originated in Hong Kong and included three albino Chinese turtles, was intercepted by Customs and Border Protection officers. The snakes were seized due to the danger they posed, but the turtles were delivered to the L.A address of a man named Rodrigo Franco. When the man accepted the package, federal agents pounced on him.
When Franco’s address was searched under warrant, officials found a whole menagerie of exotic reptiles that included alligators and terrapin turtles.
Franco now faces 20 years inside a federal facility if convicted of smuggling protected species.