Snakes – and much more – on a plane

Border officials were homing in on animal smugglers as a briefcase full of dead pigeons was seized on its way into the UK.

Some of the birds, which were found at Gatwick Airport last month, had all of their feathers removed, leading to suspicions they may have been headed for British restaurants.

But officials were left baffled by the old pair of boots that were found alongside them in the case, a UK Border Agency spokeswoman said.

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The haul was the latest in a top 10 of unusual finds by the UK Border Agency as it cracks down on smugglers bringing animals into the country illegally.

These included a scene that could have come straight from Snakes On A Plane, with a passenger travelling through Heathrow Airport with his pet boa constrictor wrapped around his leg.

In a second case, a striped animal skin, suspected of being from an endangered species, was later found to be the skin of a large domestic dog, which had been painted to look like that of a tiger.

And another passenger at Heathrow tried to smuggle 40 rare and endangered parrot eggs, including those of the highly rare Blue Headed Macaw, by hiding them in a specially made vest worn under his shirt.

Other finds included:

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n 1,000 live spiders, individually boxed, in a suitcase checked in by a British man;

n A total of 26 rare birds of prey stuffed into plastic pipes for the trip from Thailand;

n Two highly venomous snakes, a puff adder and a gaboon viper, in a parcel from Tanzania.