Hong Kong police find teenager’s missing pet snake inside Sha Tin cinema

A spokesman for the force said the snake had been reported missing by a 16-year-old boy on Wednesday evening at Tin Sum Police Station.

The boy and his mother have since retrieved the pet snake after it was discovered at the cinema.

The force said that the snake was a Leiopython, which is a genus of snake in the family Pythonidae.

According to the website of New Town Plaza, the only cinema inside the mall is Movie Town, which describes itself as the largest in the New Territories and has more than 1,700 seats in seven houses.

Movie Town is operated by MCL Cinemas, which posted a Facebook notice on Thursday announcing that its MX4D Cinema would be “closed until further notice” due to a “special incident”.

MCL Cinemas issued an update at 12.57pm, saying operations had “returned to normal”, adding that affected customers could request a refund or a different screening time if they provided a ticket stub or booking number within 14 days.