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Arachnophobes beware: Customs officers on Monday launched pictures from a seizure of roughly 1,500 younger tarantulas discovered inside plastic containers that had been hidden in chocolate spongecake packing containers shipped to an airport in western Germany.
Customs officers discovered the cargo at Cologne Bonn airport in a package deal that had arrived from Vietnam, tipped off by a “noticeable odor” that didn’t resemble the anticipated aroma of the seven kilograms (about 15 kilos) of the confectionery treats, Cologne customs workplace spokesman Jens Ahland mentioned.
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“My colleagues on the airport are usually shocked by the contents of prohibited packages from all around the world, however the truth that they discovered round 1,500 small plastic containers containing younger tarantulas on this package deal left even probably the most skilled amongst them speechless,” Ahland mentioned in a press release.
Ahland hailed an “extraordinary seizure,” however one which “saddens us to see what some folks do to animals purely for revenue.”
Lots of the eight-legged creatures didn’t survive the journey, in a suspected violation of German animal-welfare guidelines, whereas survivors got to the care of an professional handler, the workplace mentioned. Reached by telephone, Ahland mentioned that the estimated worth of the cargo was being assessed.
Legal proceedings are underway in opposition to the supposed recipient within the Sauerland area, east of the airport, partly for alleged violations of failure to pay the right import duties and make the right customs declarations, the workplace mentioned.
The tarantulas had been found about three weeks in the past, however the customs workplace solely made the pictures public on Monday.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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