About 2.50pm last Thursday, police attended the address to execute the warrant for protected fauna and prohibited drugs.

The accused, a 48-year-old man was present when police arrived and was cooperative throughout the search. 

After a search of the property, police located five snakes including two woma pythons, two albino pythons and one carpet snake. The established street value of the snakes combined would be around $3000.

“It’s important that people realise that native flora and fauna are protected and holding them without a licence can lead to a criminal charge,” Detective Inspector Guy Flaherty said. 

“This can also place the snakes in jeopardy as they are being cared for in a domestic environment rather than their natural habitat.

“More importantly it presents a hazard for people who want to collect and legally deal with snakes, to potentially collecting the wrong ones which could lead to some severe consequences like poisoning.

“Anyone who keeps reptiles must have a licence and we remind them that they can only keep the specific reptile they are licenced to have.”

During the raid police also located 500g of cannabis and a prohibited knife. The items were seized.

He was issued with a court attendance notice for possession of a prohibited drug and possessing controlled fauna to appear at Macksville Local Court on June 15. 

The snakes are in the care of WIRES and will be transferred to National Parks and Wildlife rangers.