Guangzhou Customs officials in southern China’s Guangdong Province, on Friday reported that they have seized a total of 386 kg of smuggled dried snakes.
The captured products contain 256.8 kg of dried mucosal rat snakes and 128.8 kg of Javan spitting cobras.
Customs said they are both protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and can only be imported or exported with legal paperwork.
The customs found the smuggled serpents in about 10 tonnes of imported products declared to be dried geckos and zaocys dhumnades, a kind of black striped snake.
Guangzhou customs has intensified its crackdown on endangered species smuggling starting from 2019 and cleared more than 400 cases that involve ivories, pangolin scales, living crocodiles, hawksbills, and dried seahorses.
