NEW DELHI: A

on a plane could have become a frightening reality on an international flight had it not been for an alert security guard. He spotted the poisonous reptile while passing the handbag of a passenger through a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) screener at

on Sunday. The Abu Dhabi-bound passenger was handed over to the police.

"Sub inspector P K Mourya was watching over the screen where contents of hand bags were being x-rayed. He detected something that looked like a snake in the hand baggage of a passenger flying to Abu Dhabi on

express flight 419," said a senior CISF official.

Mourya asked for a physical check of the bag. "Constable Hirdesh Kumar carefully checked the bag and found a live baby snake inside the bag which looked like an Indian Krait, which is among the four most venomous snakes found in India. Snakes, reptiles and

are prohibited in flight and carriage of such reptiles is also dangerous for civil aviation security with even the young ones being venomous. The passenger was not allowed to proceed for his 4.55 pm flight and handed over to the police," said the official. The passenger is a resident of Kattakalam in Palakkad of Kerala.

The CISF had their hands full on Sunday.

A Dubai-bound passenger at Bangalore airport was found to be carrying 29 antique idols in his bag. "Physical check of this hand bag led to discovery of 29 antiques. He neither had the bill for them, nor could he say why he was taking so many antiques out of India. Customs officials detained the passenger and the antiques," said the officer.

And, at Guwahati airport the CISF recovered 39 gold bars of 24 karat weighing 6.5 kg worth Rs 2.1 crore on Sunday from the hand bag of a Kolkata-bound passenger. While screening the hand bag of this resident of Aizwal,

, one gold bar was recovered. Then his check-in baggage was re-screened that led to the discovery of the 38 other gold bars.

"The passenger and the gold bars were handed over to the department of revenue intelligence. This is a remarkable achievement where huge quantity of gold was recovered," said another CISF official.