Man Arrested After Attempting To Smuggle A Bag Of Tarantulas

An unidentified man was arrested by Customs officials after he attempted to smuggle around 100 tarantulas inside his luggage.

Officials of the Cayenne-Félix Eboué Airport in French Guiana told the Agence France Presse (AFP) that the arrested Polish native had 38 adult spiders, as well as 50 spiderlings and “dozens of egg-filled cocoons” hidden in his bag.

The spiders were packed in “plastic bottles,” added another source.

The Pole described himself to officials as “passionate about insects” when he was arrested Sunday while preparing to board a flight to Paris.

According to French wildlife protection agency ONCFS, the transport of live scorpions and tarantulas is “not forbidden wholesale,” but it is “regulated.”

Certain species, including some tarantulas on the other hand, “enjoy special protected status.”

AFP added that insect afficionado around the world visit French Guiana for its versatile biodiversity – a far cry when compared to metropolitan France.

The region is also known for its old-growth forests which are protected by the Guiana Amazonian Park and six additional national reserves.

In addition, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the European Union (EU) have made special efforts to protect these areas.

In April of this year, a Filipino citizen was also apprehended when customs officials found 757 tarantulas inside “gift-wrapped” boxes of cookies and oatmeal.

According to Associated Press, the spiders were seized at a mail exchange center near the Philippines' international airport. The arrested man said that the package came all the way from Poland.

It added that most of the baby tarantulas were placed in small plastic vials “with holes for air,” while the bigger batch were “shipped in see-through containers.”

The spiders were declared as “collection items” and was estimated by officials to max at around $5,900.

Collectors and traders of these insects in the Philippines are required to have a permit that most of them “don't bother to get.”

BGR posted that because of this permit came the infamous black market that illegally transports these venomous spiders to the country.

One month after the arrest in the Philippines, another individual was apprehended by officials for attempting to smuggle two tarantulas into Pakistan.

Usman Khan was arrested by Islamabad International Airport officers after an anoymous tip, said Superintendent Shaheen Ahmad.

The source who reported on the issue pointed that the team discovered the spiders when they scanned Khan's baggage.

Khan, a cloth merchant by profession, was traveling to Pakistan from Dubai.

He said that the brought the tarantulas from China from a “Hakeem in Peshawar,” who also paid Khan Rs 50,000 and “took care of all his traveling expenses.”

Khan also claimed that it was his first time to smuggle the spiders into Pakistan, the source added.