Live Mamba Found In Man's Laptop Bag in Zimbabwe
Police in Zimbabwe opened a laptop bag and found a deadly and very alive black mamba.
The bag was slightly moving when police stopped Grey Mpinganjira, 32, at the checkpoint in Harare on Sunday, 13th September, 2015, and demanded that the bag be opened.
Mpinganjira, who is Malawian, said the snake had already killed three people in his family. He said it belonged to his late mother, who, like Mpinganjira, used it in traditional rituals. It is not clear what the man's mother died of and if it was after being bitten by the snake.
Police arrested Mpinganjira and say he will face charges of possessing a snake without a licence.
“These kinds of snakes were kept by our mother and since I was helping her in healing processions, our uncles gave them to me when my mother died,” Mpinganjira said.
The fearsome reptile has now been confiscated by the national parks authorities. But Mpinganjira warns it will find its way back to him.
It’s not clear what, if any, other charges the diviner may face. In 2013, two women who claimed to have flown to Harare in winnowing baskets were charged with “engaging in practices commonly associated with witchcraft”.
The bag was slightly moving when police stopped Grey Mpinganjira, 32, at the checkpoint in Harare on Sunday, 13th September, 2015, and demanded that the bag be opened.
Mpinganjira, who is Malawian, said the snake had already killed three people in his family. He said it belonged to his late mother, who, like Mpinganjira, used it in traditional rituals. It is not clear what the man's mother died of and if it was after being bitten by the snake.
Police arrested Mpinganjira and say he will face charges of possessing a snake without a licence.
“These kinds of snakes were kept by our mother and since I was helping her in healing processions, our uncles gave them to me when my mother died,” Mpinganjira said.
The fearsome reptile has now been confiscated by the national parks authorities. But Mpinganjira warns it will find its way back to him.
It’s not clear what, if any, other charges the diviner may face. In 2013, two women who claimed to have flown to Harare in winnowing baskets were charged with “engaging in practices commonly associated with witchcraft”.