MELAKA: A hotelier gets to see a video of a long python caught at the iconic Stadthuys building shared by a taxi driver as soon as he landed in Penang.

Dennis Samford said he took the inaugural flight to Penang from here onboard the Batik Air on Monday (Sept 12) and he was shown the footage by a taxi driver while on his way to the hotel.

He said the taxi driver asked him “Sir, are you from Melaka? It’s interesting to see a python right at a tourist icon of the city”.

Samford said he was surprised when he looked at the video where Civil Defence Force (APM) personnel were seen trying to pull out the python from the drainage duct of the historical building at Bandar Hilir here.

“No one would ever expect to catch a python at a crowded tourist hotspot.

“I didn’t know about the python at the Stadthuys until I came to Penang,” he quipped, after sharing his brief encounter with the taxi driver.

Samford said he was among dozens of passengers who took the flight to Penang after the service resumed following a hiatus of almost three years due to the impact of Covid-19.

When checked, a spokesman from APM confirmed the python was caught last week.

He said the reptile was pulled out from a toilet duct of a Health Department office at the Stadthuys.

The spokesman added that the python was about 3m long and was released to its natural habitat.