Snake catchers had to break through a cafe's ceiling to capture a killer python that ate a resident's pet cat.

The officers were called to the scene by the elderly house owner Buakheaw Kheawinta, 80, who spotted it hiding above the coffee shop at the front of her home in Lampang, Thailand, on November 14.

Footage shows the 15ft (5 metres) reptile's head and large body poking out of the hole in the wooden ceiling.

It was dragged down by the team members but it was strong and large, easily evading being extracted. To ensure it would be removed from its hiding spot, Buakheaw gave permission for the rescuers to demolish a portion of the structure.

A rescued then used bare hands to drag it by the tail until it fell onto the floor.

It tried to escape the rescuer's grip and coiled on the ground amid destruction before successfully being taken outside the property.

Buakheaw said: 'We turned the front of our old house into a coffee shop. I saw the snake slithering around trees until my neighbour told us about their cat.'

The elderly resident added that, aside from the cat, pet chickens mysteriously disappeared in the neighbourhood, which she believes were eaten by the snake as well.

The superstitious local said: 'I poured turmeric water mixed with other herbs. I believe it is a guardian spirit so I offered it the herbs as I asked it to leave.'

The rescue team took the large python into their facility before releasing it into the wild.

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