According to the agency, officers found the python inside a hard drive in the passenger's checked luggage. A photograph published by the Miami Herald shows a camouflage bag inside the hard drive as well.
The python and the passenger were both headed to Barbados, but neither were allowed to board. It's assumed that the flight from Miami International Airport took off as planned.
"The snake, that didn't get on a plane thanks to our officers' diligent screening, had been artfully concealed inside the electronics of a hard drive and placed in a checked bag headed for a flight to Barbados," TSA spokesperson Sari Koshetz told the Miami Herald on Monday.
"Upon the TSA officer's discovery of the organic mass, one of our TSA bomb experts was called into the baggage screening room to investigate the innards of the hard drive and that is when he discovered the mass was a live snake," Koshetz said.
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US Fish and Wildlife Services officials arrived on the scene, took the snake, and fined the passenger.
"While this mass inside the electronic device was obviously not an imminent terrorist threat to the traveling public, the interception did prevent a possible wildlife threat on an aircraft. Animals of many species have been known to escape and chew through wires with fatal results," Koshetz said.
