19-foot python breaks into Australian charity shop

AUSTRALIAN police were mystified by a chaotic crime scene including a hole in the ceiling and a pool of vomit-like liquid – until they found the culprit was a 19-foot python.

The python slithers amongst clothes at a charity shop in the town of Ingham, Queensland. Picture: Queensland Police/ AP

The snake was captured a day after a suspected burglary was reported at a charity store in Queensland.

“Its head was the size of a small dog,” Police Sergeant Don Auld said yesterday.

Before they found the python, investigators’ working theory was that a human burglar with an appetite for destruction – and a serious illness – had gone on a rampage inside the shop in the town of Ingham.

“We thought a person had fallen through the ceiling because the roof panel was cut in half,” Auld said. “When they’ve hit the floor, they’ve vomited and then staggered and fallen over. That’s what we thought anyway.”

Police now suspect the python entered the shop through the roof, which was damaged in a cyclone two years ago.