TEMERLOH, MALAYSIA: When motorists stopped to help the driver and attendant of a lorry which landed on its side in Jalan Bukit Angin yesterday, they did not at first notice what the vehicle had been carrying.

Despite the fact that some of the contents were strewn on the road, their only concern was for the driver and attendant.

A state Wildlife and National Parks employee holds aloft a python which was among the cargo ferried by the lorry. Photo: NST

The good Samaritans received a shock when they later realised the lorry was transporting more than 200 reptiles, including pythons and cobras.

Fortunately, the cages in which the reptiles remained intact in the crash.

"Just imagine what would have happened if the snakes had managed to slither away," said a motorist identified only as Abdullah.

District police chief Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Fadzillah Mohamed said the lorry had skidded before landing on its side about 6am.

Now, however, the driver and attendant could well be in trouble.

Ahmad Fadzillah said the reptiles had been illegally brought from Perlis to be supplied to a restaurant in Kuantan.

State Wildlife and National Parks Department director Saharudin Anan said apart from snakes, there were also monitor lizards and tortoises in the lorry.

Saharudin said the tortoises, with a total weight of 800kg, had been released in a suitable habitat here while the snakes and monitor lizards would be released into a forest reserve.

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