Published: October 26, 2009 02:48 pm      

Norwegian accused of skin-crawling snake smuggling

OSLO — A man has been arrested in Norway trying to smuggle two dozen snakes and geckos into the country by hiding them under his clothes.

Customs agent Helge Breilid said Monday the 22-year-old Norwegian citizen was apprehended in the southern town of Kristiansand after getting off a ferry from Hirtshals, Denmark. He said the man had 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos under his clothes.

Breilid said the non-venomous snakes — the smallest species in the python family — were hidden in stockings duct-taped to the man's abdomen. The geckos were in boxes taped to his thighs.

Customs officials found the reptiles, which are not endangered, Sunday during a search following the discovery of a tarantula in one of the man's bags.