This is the dramatic moment police dragged out a gargantuan python that was hiding in an impounded truck in Thailand.

Officers were called over when the pickup truck's owner, who arrived to check on their vehicle, informed them that a snake had slithered into the engine compartment in Phang Nga province on June 27.

Video shows several officers lifting and pulling the 14ft beast that had wound itself tightly around the machinery.

It took the cops 30 minutes to extract the python and heave it into a sack. It weighed more than 10 kilos and was later released into the forest.

Police Lieutenant Witoon Kongranksa of the Thap Put district station said: 'I'm not afraid of snakes because I've already helped several villagers catch them in the past. Also, pythons are not normally aggressive, so this one was not so difficult to catch despite its size.'

The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and even in cities, causing them to come into conflict with humans. The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.

The reticulated python is found throughout Southeast Asia, where they live in forests, swamps, canals and even in cities, causing them to come into conflict with humans. The species is one of the world's largest snakes and can eat humans, cats, dogs, birds, rats and other snakes.