King Cobras Smuggled In Potato Chip Cans! Customs Officers in California Arrest Man Trying to Sneak Deadly Snake

A man recently got arrested in California, USA, on July 25.

A man recently got arrested in California, USA, on July 25. The customs agents arrested a man on federal charges, as he stuffed three live king cobras inside cans of potato chips. Rodrigo Franco, 34-year-old who was all set to receive the deadly package but was arrested according to the press release from the Department of Justice, US Attorney’s Office. King Cobras are worlds longest and deadly reptiles who can be dangerous. These cobras can kill a human within 30 minutes.

The package shipped from Hong Kong which was containing three albino Chinese soft-shelled turtles along with the 2-feet-long cobras. According to court documents described by NPR, it is stated that the Customs officials initially suspected the package from Hong Kong and thought it might contain drugs. Within no time, they called the USFWS. The special agent on that team recognised the Hong Kong address and told them not to open the potato chips containers until they were taken to the safe environment. Ian Recchio, the reptile curator at the Los Angeles Zoo, said that “that if someone had been bitten by one of the cobras, they likely would have died as there is not a ready source of anti-venom that he knew about in Los Angeles.”

The agents successfully removed the Cobras and even delivered the turtles to Mr Franco’s house. Within no time, the officers obtained a search warrant to investigate his property. The officers even discovered a tank which was containing a live baby Morelet’s crocodile along with alligator snapping turtles, common snapping turtle, and five diamond back terrapins. The suspect said that “one of his contacts in China had a cousin that flew to Los Angeles from Virginia, collected the snakes, and returned to Virginia.”

Take a look at the tweet.

Monterey Park man arrested on federal charges of smuggling king cobras into U.S. https://t.co/K4pkSisprm pic.twitter.com/j1UweVAEwb

— US Attorney L.A. (@CDCANews) July 25, 2017

Take a look at how Twitterati reacted.

The thought of cramming the cobra in the small can is scary.

— Michael Young (@advdays) July 26, 2017

May have had better luck if he used a brand of chips people actually eat. #pringles

— Sarcasm King (@cincybrian) July 26, 2017

People do the dumbest things.

— AgonizingPeace💀 (@philipammerman1) July 26, 2017

Franco was even admitted during questioning who received 20 king cobras in two prior shipments. But the man said that all those snakes die during transportation. Well, it is said that if the person is convicted on smuggling charges, then the guy would be behind bars for 20 years. Franco’s phone recordings also showed that he was discussing how to feed the snakes.

Stephanie Johnson, Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent said, “I directed the Wildlife Inspectors and the CBP Agricultural Specialists to not open the small potato chip canisters until we could take them to a more controlled and safe environment. However, while I was interviewing Agricultural Specialist [Jaime] Pimentel (described above), WI [Cory] Kawabata opened one of the canisters and verified there was a snake inside (at the time, the snake was passive and did not attempt to strike at WI Kawabata).” So, next time be a bit careful when you open a canister of potato chips, you never know what is waiting for you inside.