1,500 tarantulas seized at airport after being smuggled in chocolate spongecake boxes
The tarantulas were found inside plastic containers that had been hidden in the cake boxes which were then shipped to Cologne Bonn airport, western Germany.
Customs officials were alerted to the package, which arrived from Vietnam, by a 'noticeable smell ' that didn't resemble the expected aroma of the 7 kilograms (about 15 pounds) of the confectionery treats.
"My colleagues at the airport are regularly surprised by the contents of prohibited packages from all over the world, but the fact that they found around 1,500 small plastic containers containing young tarantulas in this package left even the most experienced among them speechless,' Cologne customs office spokesman Jens Ahland said in a statement.
Ahland hailed an 'extraordinary seizure," but one that "saddens us to see what some people do to animals purely for profit.'
Many of the eight-legged creatures didn't survive the trip, in a suspected violation of German animal-welfare rules, while survivors were given to the care of an expert handler, the office said. Reached by phone, Ahland said that the estimated value of the shipment was being assessed.
Criminal proceedings are underway against the intended recipient in the Sauerland region, east of the airport, in part for alleged violations of failure to pay the proper import duties and make the proper customs declarations, the office said.
The tarantulas were discovered about three weeks ago, but the customs office only made the images public on Monday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
12 minutes ago
- Reuters
Microsoft server hack hit about 100 victims, researchers say
WASHINGTON/LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - A sweeping cyber espionage operation targeting Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab server software compromised about 100 different organizations as of the weekend, two of the organizations that helped uncover the campaign said on Monday. Microsoft on Saturday issued an alert about "active attacks" on self-managed SharePoint servers, which are widely used by government agencies and businesses to share documents within organisations. Dubbed a "zero-day" because it leverages a previously undisclosed digital weakness, the hacks allow spies to penetrate vulnerable servers and potentially drop a backdoor to secure continuous access to victim organizations. Vaisha Bernard, the chief hacker at Eye Security, a Netherlands-based cybersecurity firm, which discovered the hacking campaign, opens new tab targeting one of its clients on Friday, said that an internet scan carried out with the Shadowserver Foundation had uncovered nearly 100 victims altogether - and that was before the technique behind the hack was widely known. "It's unambiguous," Bernard said. "Who knows what other adversaries have done since to place other backdoors." He declined to identify the affected organizations, saying that the relevant national authorities had been notified. The Shadowserver Foundation confirmed the 100 figure and said that most of those affected were in the United States and Germany and that the victims included government organizations. Another researcher said that, so far, the spying appeared to be the work of a single hacker or set of hackers. "It's possible that this will quickly change," said Rafe Pilling, director of Threat Intelligence at Sophos, a British cybersecurity firm. Microsoft said it had "provided security updates and encourages customers to install them," a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement. It was not clear who was behind the ongoing hack. The FBI said on Sunday it was aware of the attacks and was working closely with its federal and private-sector partners, but offered no other details. Britain's National Cyber Security Center said in a statement, opens new tab that it was aware of "a limited number" of targets in the United Kingdom. According to data from Shodan, a search engine that helps to identify internet-linked equipment, over 8,000 servers online could theoretically have already been compromised by hackers. Those servers include major industrial firms, banks, auditors, healthcare companies, and several U.S. state-level and international government entities. "The SharePoint incident appears to have created a broad level of compromise across a range of servers globally," said Daniel Card of British cybersecurity consultancy, PwnDefend. "Taking an assumed breach approach is wise, and it's also important to understand that just applying the patch isn't all that is required here."
The Guardian
42 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Anti-AfD protesters interrupt Alice Weidel interview live on German TV
A German public broadcaster has said it is reviewing its procedures after a live interview with the leader of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland was interrupted by protesters. During the television interview with ARD on Sunday, Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, appeared at times to struggle to hear the questions being asked of her as protesters gathered below the provisional stage for the interview in Berlin. Amid whistling and shouting, the speakers of a bus used as part of the demonstration blared the anti-AfD song Scheiß AfD Jodler (Shit AfD Yodellers) by Corner Chor, an award-winning activist choir from Augsburg. The protesters also included the group Omas gegen Rechts (Grans against the Right) and the anti-fascist artists' collective Zentrum für Politische Schönheit (the Center for Political Beauty). Some parts of the interview were inaudible to people watching it on TV. The anti-immigrant party has insisted the interview should be rerun to give Weidel the chance to properly answer the questions in what was part of a series of interviews with politicians from all parties. On Monday ARD said it would learn lessons from the incident but refused to say whether it would redo the interview. 'An uninterrupted flow in interviews is in our interest and, above all, in the interest of the audience. Therefore, we will draw conclusions from the broadcast and take precautions in the future,' a spokesperson said. The broadcaster said it had not been notified that the protest would be taking place and that nothing had been registered with the police in advance. The Berlin police said no arrests had been made, but that it was considering launching proceedings against the demonstrators. The journalist carrying out the interview, Markus Preiß, said afterwards: 'I have to say: Alice Weidel was quite sporting, considering the volume.' He added: 'Everyone is allowed to demonstrate; that's a good democratic right. But demonstrations are usually registered. And this one wasn't.' While she tried to make light of it, calling the choir a 'tax-funded NGO' and insisting she was used to protests against her, Weidel appeared to grow increasingly frustrated as the interview went on. Posting a link on social media to the interview, which was shown on the flagship news programme Tagesschau, she wrote: 'This is how it looks, by the way, when the Tagesschau holds a summer interview with the AfD in [conservative] CDU-governed Berlin – while the NGO choir protests in the background.' Preiß said he and Weidel had briefly discussed whether they should keep going and they agreed to continue. ARD faced a barrage of criticism for its failure to move it to an enclosed studio. AfD members and supporters said the broadcaster was responsible for guaranteeing equal conditions for politicians of all parties during interviews. Some opponents of the AfD said the protests had had the effect of creating more publicity for the party, which became the largest opposition party in the German parliament after February's elections. The media lobby group Reporters Without Borders said internet companies should be taxed to create a fund to help public broadcasters deal with the pressures they are increasingly facing from far-right parties. The group's director general, Thibaut Bruttin, cited Donald Trump's decision to 'dismantle' the US's international broadcasting service, saying it echoed 'the offensive being waged by certain political forces against public radio and television broadcasters across Europe', naming Hungary, Italy and Slovakia.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Woman arrested after 35 sheep killed in dog attack in Suffolk
Thirty-five sheep died and 14 others were injured in a dog attack, police incident took place in a field near Assington Green, in Stansfield, Suffolk, on Friday, with the police report being made at 20:09 BST that day.A woman was arrested the following day on suspicion of criminal damage, an animal welfare offence and an offence of dogs worrying was bailed until 19 October, and two dogs were seized and remain in police kennels. Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
