EAGLE PASS, Texas -- When U.S. Customs Service agents searched a pickup truck at the port of entry here, they found six live snakes in a tool compartment.
When they searched the two men in the truck, they found eight more live snakes, each wrapped in socks and pantyhose and hidden in the men's underwear -- four to a man.
"In the past, we have found marijuana cigarettes and other drugs . . . but never snakes in jockey shorts," officer Humberto Rodriguez said after the incident Tuesday night.
The men, who told agents they were from California, were fined $800 for smuggling undeclared merchandise and released, agents said.
Special Agent Mark Johnson said the Mexican snakes, which were sent to a zoo, could be worth thousands of dollars. "They are pretty docile, but I still wouldn't want to have any in my pants," he said.
