MADRID: Spanish police said on Tuesday they found five snakes, two lizards and thousands of insects alive and hidden inside two suitcases that arrived on the holiday island of Gran Canaria on a flight from Madrid.

A man who had checked in the luggage in the Spanish capital was detained for questioning at the airport of Las Palmas, police said in a statement, without giving further details.

The luggage contained species often sold as exotic pets: a boa constrictor, a python molurus, found in Southeast Asia, and three python regius, a species found in Africa.

It also contained two leopard gecko lizards, a species naturally found in the deserts of Asia, two frogs and 200 dubia cockroaches which are normally found in Central and Southern America.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2014