Harare - A Zimbabwean man who was arrested by police with a deadly Egyptian cobra in his laptop bag, says he wants his snake back as he inherited it from his mother.

Grey Mupinganjire, 32, from a rural village about 100km south-east of Harare, told the magistrate’s court on Tuesday he admitted he owned the deadly cobra but said this wasn’t an offence, and he asked the police to return it to him.

The court heard Mupinganjire was travelling in a taxi in Harare’s southern suburbs on Sunday when police stopped the van and searched the passengers.

When he was found in possession of the snake in his laptop bag, he was arrested, and it was later taken from him and handed to the Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.

He was charged under the Parks and Wildlife Act for having a reptile without a permit or licence.

“Yes, I was found in possession of a snake, but it is my snake and belongs to me and should not have been forfeited.”

Mupinganjire said his mother brought the snake from Malawi, but he couldn’t prove that as she had died.

Magistrate Elijah Makomo said the case was bizarre and that the accused should be medically examined. He postponed the case to Monday.

Mupinganjire said he was not insane and he was grieving the loss of his snake, which he used, like his mother, in traditional rituals.

The Egyptian cobra, usually about 2m long, is one of Africa’s deadliest snakes. Humans bitten by an Egyptian cobra can die from respiratory failure within about an hour