BORNEO BULLETIN (Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam) 27 January 07 Local couple nabbed with snake and rats at Miri airport (Liza Mohd)
It was indeed a live enactment of the hit movie snakes on a plane when a real life snake allegedly smuggled by a Bruneian couple on budget carrier AirAsia caused a frenzy over one-hundred flight passengers boarding a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Miri on Sunday morning, the Malaysian daily newspaper Berita Harian reported.
The married couple however denied smuggling the pet snake which was spotted by a horrified passenger on the floor of the aircraft but admitted to illegally importing forty-six baby rats whom they stored in a box, hidden inside a backpack they carried into the plane.
The Berita Harian reported Malaysia Airport Berhad (MAB) was carrying out thorough investigations as to how the reptile and mammals managed to infiltrate the safety control of the budget carrier airport in Sepang on Sunday.
The MAB Miri Manager Sunif Naiman responding to the incident said they had submitted a report to the MAB headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to investigate the findings of forty-six baby rats and a pet snake on flight AK5254 which touched down from KL at 7.45 in the morning.
Nevertheless, as soon as the aircraft landed in Miri airport the authorities failed to locate the thumb-size thick pet snake claimed by a passenger to have spotted it on the floor of the aircraft.
The MAB representative went on to say that baby rats were discovered inside a backpack belonging to a Brunei couple.
"The couple admitted to bringing baby rats by concealing them inside a box which they stored in a bag they carried into the plane. The baby rats were smuggled to feed the pet snake," the official was quoted as saying in Berita Harian.
"Despite that, the couple also denied bringing the pet snake" he said adding that flight passengers were in total chaos and lifted their legs when they spotted the uninvited reptile on the floor of the plane.
The mystery of the snake caused a delay on the return flight back to LCCT from 10.05am on the same day to 1.40pm, as soon as authorities were satisfied on the safety guarantee of passengers who boarded the flight.
Meanwhile, all the rats found in the air carrier were seized and sent to the Veterinary Dept at Miri Agriculture Department.
The official Dr Sajim Jinim said while confiscation was made, the Brunei couple failed to produce a health certificate of the imported rats, apart from not possessing an official permit to import the rats into the country.
"The baby rats are in quarantine, waiting for further instructions from the department headquarters in Kuching on the next action to be taken against the Bruneian couple," he stated.
AirAsia spokesperson when contacted by the daily newspaper said they were handing the matter to MAB for further investigation.
They were quoted as saying, "It's up to MAB to take further action on this matter".
Local couple nabbed with snake and rats at Miri airport