Scales of justice! Police find python instead of drugs inside suspicious package

This is the amusing moment police found a python instead of drugs inside a suspicious plastic bag in Thailand.

Police Corporal Thanapol Samerjai and Police Lance Corporal Worapan Thapthong were patrolling the streets of Samut Prakan province when they spotted a motorcycle rider moving erratically on June 27 evening.

The middle-aged man threw a black plastic bag on the side of the road before driving away.

Worapan opened the bag believing it contained drugs - only to find a huge python coiled inside.

Footage shows how the officer jolted back when the light illuminated the snake's scaly body.

The officer, from the of Samrong Tai Police Station, said: 'I was surprised because I didn't expect to find a snake. I was convinced the bag contained drugs. When I opened it, I got goosebumps because the snake was quite large.

'I wasn't sure if it was a reticulated python or a Burmese python because I only saw some yellow, unfamiliar patterns.

'I wasn't sure if the man had done something wrong because he discarded the plastic bag and rode away.

'By opening the bag, we saved the snake's life and let it escape. If we had found drugs, we would have seized them to prevent them from spreading to our youths.'

None of the policeman wanted to handle the python and they let it slither away into a nearby forest.

The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and even in cities, causing them to come into conflict with humans. The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.