As he attempted to leave Peru, authorities arrested a man whose bulging clothing gave him away, along with the hundreds of tarantulas he had fastened to his body.
According to a news release from Peru’s National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR), the alleged smuggler, a 28-year-old South Korean man, was stopped by security officials at Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport on November 8 because his stomach looked unusually large as he passed through security.
The Wildlife Service said that when the unnamed man was asked to remove his shirt, two belts containing disguised pouches and packages containing tarantulas and other insects were revealed.
After counting the hidden animals, the government agency discovered nine bullet ants, 110 centipedes, 285 baby tarantulas, and 35 adult tarantulas.
Images of confiscated specimens showed that the juvenile tarantulas shared space in little tubes that were packed from either end to prevent their escape, while the adult tarantulas, which were described as being the size of a human hand, occupied a large plastic container.
According to Walter Silva, a wildlife specialist at SERFOR, all of the animals are indigenous to the Peruvian Amazon, and the tarantulas in particular are categorized as endangered in Peru.
They were gathered from Madre de Dios, a biodiverse area whose forests make up 12% of Peru’s Amazon, according to the World Wildlife Fund.
According to Silva, the illegally removed bugs are a part of a global wildlife trade that generates millions of dollars through the transportation and sale of wildlife at outrageous prices.
He added that as illegally trafficked animals fetch higher prices during the holiday season, smuggling incidents like these increase in frequency as Christmas draws near.
The press release stated that this smuggler had scheduled a stop in France while traveling to Korea.
The person was taken into custody by Peru’s National Police, and an investigation was started by the Environmental Prosecutor’s Office.
According to SERFOR, the animals have been moved to a safe area from their crowded storage facilities.
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