Argentina — A Czech man faces up to 10 years in prison in Argentina for allegedly trying to smuggle hundreds of poisonous snakes and endangered reptiles onto a plane bound for Europe.

Airport police made the man open his checked baggage after an X-ray scanner exposed the wriggling reptiles. They found 247 exotic and endangered species packed inside plastic containers, bags and even socks.

A judge says the boa constrictors, poisonous pit vipers and coral snakes, lizards and spiders could have escaped the cloth suitcase in the unpressurized cabin and perhaps attacked people in Madrid or Prague, where antidotes for South American snakes are rare.

Karen Abelovsky, 51, has refused to make a statement. The Buenos Aires zoo is keeping most of the reptiles.

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Inland Taipan a.k.a. Fierce Snake, is the world's most Venomous Snake. It lives in central Australia and is a species of Taipan belonging to the Elapidae family.

A single bite from the Inland Taipan contains enough venom to kill as many as 100 human adults, or 250,000 mice. The average venom yield of this snake is 44 mg, with a 110-mg being the largest recorded yield. Its venom is 50 times more toxic than that of the Indian Cobra and 650 - 850 times more toxic than that of a Western- or Eastern Diamondback. The Inland Taipan has an extremely neurotoxic venom which can cause death to an adult human in as little as 45 minutes. Although highly venomous it is a relatively timid snake provided that it is left alone. Even so, if it is suspected that a bite from this snake has occurred, medical attention should be sought immediately. Although known as the most venomous land snake in the world, there have been no documented human fatalities. All known bites have been treated using antivenom.