Passengers were shocked to discover a snake on board an easyJet flight from Tel Aviv to London last week.

Adam Gubbay, a former Hasmonean student, had smuggled the non-poisonous corn snake onto the aircraft in his hand luggage.

Mr Gubbay, 24, who had been on holiday and visiting his mother in Israel, was met by police when he landed at Luton airport after the crew alerted British authorities.

Jasmine Harooni, 22, a former JFS student and friend of Mr Gubbay, said: “At check-in he told me he had the snake in his pocket and that it was called Milky. He thought it was funny but I didn’t expect him to get away with it.”

Mr Gubbay had joked with Ms Harooni about his plans to take the animal through security, having bought it in Israel.

Ms Harooni said: “In the middle of the flight he took it out to check on it. There was a loud scream. The staff took the snake off him and kept it in a container at the back of the plane.”

Ms Harooni added: “There was a lot of commotion on the plane and Adam was shouting at them to give him his snake back.”

In a statement, easyJet said: “We have raised the issue with the airport to understand why the reptile was not detected during security checks.”

A spokesperson for Border Force said: “We are taking no action against him or the snake and, as far as I am aware, it was returned to him.”

Mr Gubbay said: “Seeing as they didn’t ask me about it at customs I assumed it was ok to bring him on the plane, people bring pets on planes all the time.

“I also got to take two bottles of water through and they didn’t say anything.”

He said he had “learnt his lesson” and “won’t be doing it again”.