FREETOWN (Reuters) – Police in Sierra Leone have called in the army and fire brigade to try to take back control of a police station which has been overrun by hundreds of poisonous snakes.

Snake charmers have tried in vain to lure the beasts, mostly cobras and vipers, out of Gerihun police station in the southern district of Bo. Attempts to smoke them out also failed.

Officers and residents wanting to report crimes have grown too afraid to come to the building.