Earlier this week, a potential car-buyer stopped at a service station in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, where a red sedan was parked out front for sale. At a glance, the vehicle appeared to be in good working order. But there was actually more to it than met the eye.
Specifically, there wasn’t just an engine under the hood.
Security footage from the service station shows the moment an employee invites the customer to check on the car’s condition — only to learn the shocking truth:
Turns out, unbeknownst to anyone, a massive python had commandeered the car, settling in cozily atop the engine compartment. How long he’d been there is anyone’s guess — but he wasn’t eager to leave.
“Too early [for this],” the service station employee wrote.
Before long, the sight of large snake under the hood began attracting a crowd of stunned onlookers, some of whom tried to coax the stowaway out of the vehicle.
His cover had been blown.
The police were called to assist, and by the time they arrived, the snake had descended through the engine compartment down to the ground beneath the car.
As the crowd looked on, authorities managed to wrangle the snake into a receptacle.
From there, the large python was transported to a nature area outside of town and set free.
The service station employee who, along with the customer, first encountered the snake beneath apparently holds no grudges for the imposition he’d faced that morning, sending off the scaly interloper with some sweet well-wishes:
“Go to a safe place,” he wrote, “and have more kids and grandkids.”
