1,500 tarantulas hidden in snack cake boxes smuggled into Germany
Upon opening the package allegedly filled with 15 pounds of snack cakes, they discovered colorful packages of Vietnamese brands of cookies and chocolate cakes that contained, instead of sweet treats, an estimated 1,500 young tarantulas.
'The noticeable smell upon opening the large package was inconsistent with the alleged contents of 7 kilograms of biscuits,' Jens Ahland, press spokesperson for the Cologne Main Customs Office, said in a news release, translated into English.
'My colleagues at the airport are regularly surprised by the contents of prohibited packages from all over the world, but the discovery of around 1,500 small plastic containers containing young tarantulas in this package left even the most experienced among them speechless.'
3 Plastic containers holding young tarantulas that had been hidden in chocolate sponge-cake boxes shipped to Cologne Bonn airport, western Germany.
AP
Cologne customs officials said many of the tarantulas did not survive the flight to Cologne.
If they were on a nonstop flight from Vietnam, the tarantulas would have been on the plane for about 12 hours.
'An extraordinary seizure for German Customs, even though it saddens us to see what some people do to animals purely for profit,' Ahland said.
The tarantulas that did survive were placed in professional care.
3 There was an estimated 1,500 tarantulas in the packages.
AP
3 Cologne customs officials said many of the tarantulas did not survive the flight to Cologne.
AP
Criminal proceedings are underway for the intended recipient of the tarantulas, officials said.
They noted that the charges involve not declaring the animals to customs and for not paying duties on packages from a country that is not part of the European Union.
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