Customs officials are always on the lookout for smuggled items but were left “speechless” by what they found in cake boxes.
Packages of chocolate cake from Vietnam heading to North Rhine-Westphalia in Western Germany were pulled by officials for further inspection at Cologne/Bonn Airport.
“The noticeable smell upon opening the large package was inconsistent with the alleged contents of seven kilograms of biscuits. My colleagues at the airport are regularly surprised by the contents of prohibited packages from all over the world, but the discovery of around 1,500 small plastic containers containing young tarantulas in this package left even the most experienced among them speechless,” Jens Ahland, press spokesperson for the Cologne Main Customs Office, said in a press release.
Sadly, many of the young spiders did not survive the journey and the way they were transported is a violation of German animal welfare regulations. The survivors are being cared for by a professional.
Criminal charges are being filed against the recipient. Ahland said, “An extraordinary seizure for German Customs, even though it saddens us to see what some people do to animals purely for profit.”
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