A Queens, New York, man who admitted to smuggling three Burmese pythons in his pants through a U.S.-Canadian border back in 2018 was sentenced to a year of probation and and fined $5,000, federal prosecutors tell the Associated Press.
Calvin Bautista, 38, reportedly hid the snakes in the inner thigh of his pants in snake bags tied to the pants’ drawstring.
Bautista purchased the snakes — worth more than $2,500 — at a reptile store in Canada, according to court documents obtained by the outlet.
The Burmese python is one of the world’s largest snakes. According to AP, importation of them is regulated by an international treaty and by U.S. federal regulations listing them as “injurious to human beings.”