Snakes on a train: Chinese man caught with 50 vipers in his suitcase
Passenger taken in for questioning after saying he planned to use the serpents to make snake wine
A man was stopped from boarding a train in eastern China on Sunday after security staff found a bag of 50 live vipers in his suitcase.
The man, who was not named, said he had bought the venomous serpents in Zhejiang province and was taking them home to the southern city of Guangzhou to make snake wine, Qianjiang Evening News reported on Monday.
Snake wine has been used as a tonic in traditional Chinese medicine for millennia, and remains popular in some regions of the country and in other parts of Southeast Asia.
The passenger, who was aged in his 50s, was quoted as saying that he had travelled to Zhejiang to buy 4kg of pit vipers as a friend had told him they were cheaper there.
