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Posted on 07/14/2025 12:08:59 PM PDT by DFG
Arachnophobes beware: Customs officials on Monday released photos from a seizure of roughly 1,500 young tarantulas found inside plastic containers that had been hidden in chocolate spongecake boxes shipped to an airport in western Germany.
Customs officials found the shipment at Cologne Bonn airport in a package that had arrived from Vietnam, tipped off by a “noticeable smell” that didn't resemble the expected aroma of the 7 kilograms (about 15 pounds) of the confectionery treats, Cologne customs office spokesman Jens Ahland said.
"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,” 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
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Chocolate covered spiders?
Exotic pets. They’re worth about $20 each
Who buys spongecake from Vietnam?
Tara N. Chulas.
There is an interesting series on Max, “Contraband Seized at the _____” (Border, Airport, etc. several different flavors). Very interesting and shows our CBP folks are on the ball. They routinely encounter situations just as the one described in this article.
Clever, quite clever.
Was the smuggler a black widow?
My basement has wolf spiders. They are bad enough.
I watch that show.
Some of the disgusting, vermin ridden foodstuff and other things these Third World cretins bring into here boggles my mind.
How can you be so stupid as to put dried fish or some kind of fruit into a hot, stuffy airtight suitcase and sit on a plane for God knows how many hours?
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