Foreigner arrested with 320 tarantulas strapped to body at airport in Peru
The reason this traveller was arrested in Peru will make your skin crawl.
A Korean man has been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 300 tarantulas out of Peru by strapping them to his body.
Authorities had thought the 28-year-old foreigner’s stomach “looked swollen” when passing through security at Jorge Chávez International Airport on November 8.
They found two belts holding small plastic containers and Ziploc bags with 320 tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants, according to Peru’s forestry and wildlife service, SERFOR.
The authority said specialists verified that there were 35 adult tarantulas about the size of a hand and 285 juvenile tarantulas, in a statement published on November 13.
They are believed to have been taken from the Madre de Dios region in southeastern Peru.
SERFOR wildlife specialist Walter Silva said in the statement that the tarantulas, which are native to the Peruvian Amazon, are an endangered species.
“They were all illegally extracted and are part of illegal wildlife trafficking worth millions of dollars globally,” Mr Silva claimed.
Peru’s fauna can reach high prices when sold as pets or to collectors and illegal trafficking cases are “often found” close to Christmas, the statement said.
SERFOR said the young man was planning to fly to Korea via France before he was arrested by police.
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