Photo: IC

A cobra that bit a veterinary student in Brazil, putting him in a coma, has turned into a celebrity by sparking an investigation into an alleged exotic animal trafficking ring.

The monocled cobra, which is native to Asia, bit Pedro Krambeck Lehmkuhl on July 7 in Brasilia, sending doctors on a frantic search for the right antivenom - so rare in Brazil that the lone doses had to be rushed from Sao Paulo.

Questions about how the snake ended up at the student's apartment soon turned into a police investigation that found 16 other snakes at a property belonging to a friend of Lehmkuhl's, as well as three sharks, seven more snakes, a Moray eel and a Tupinambis lizard at another property.

So far the probe has led to the firing of two officials at the Brazilian environmental regulator, IBAMA, over suspicions that they facilitated fraudulent import permits for a wildlife trafficking ring.

The student's mother and stepfather were also fined on a charge of obstructing justice.