ORLANDO, Fla. — Mateus Dal Maso will return to Brazil without the 27 snakes he tried to smuggle onto a plane as he was departing on Wednesday from Orlando International Airport, federal officials said.
He bought the snakes at the National Reptile Breeders Expo in Daytona Beach, Fla., even though he knew it was illegal to export them back to his home country, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials.
Dal Maso wrapped the serpents in nylon stockings and hid them inside old stereo speakers in his luggage but when the suitcases went through an X-ray, scanners could see the reptiles.
He was stopped just as he tried to board Tam Airlines Flight 8111 to Sao Paulo and denied having anything other than electronics inside his baggage, the criminal complaint said.
But when federal agents took him aside into a separate area of the terminal, Dal Maso admitted concealing the snakes, which are worth an estimated $10,000.
Wildlife officials said the snakes included one ball python, seven boa constrictors, and 19 various color morph corn snakes. The serpents never made it aboard the flight, officials said.
