"Federal agents who raided...
...seized 98 snakes, several guns and resident Brook Berntson, 36, who is accused of illegally dealing in snakes from his home in the town of 1,900 in southwestern Weld County.
The snakes found Saturday include Western rattlers, a variety of exotic vipers and cobras and a highly venomous Jameson's mamba, native to Africa.
The snakes are being stored at the Denver Zoo.
The feds say they're part of a lucrative black market in poisonous snakes that was cracked by a two-year sting, dubbed Operation E&T, in which agents posed as snake fanciers.
"Operation E&T was initiated to focus primarily on the illegal activities of the Midwestern reptile community - those who commercially collect reptiles from the wild and the commercial dealers who exploit such wildlife," court documents said."
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drm...082317,00.html
Snakes 'n' sales 'n' criminal tales
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