A South Korean man (28) has been arrested in Peru for, among other things, trying to smuggle more than 300 tarantulas out of the country. He had all the animals tied to his body, but was betrayed by “distinctive bumps” around his stomach.
The man had reportedly packed more than 300 tarantulas, around 100 centipedes and 9 bulldog ants (the most poisonous ants in the world) into plastic bags and wanted to smuggle them to South Korea. Airport security guards stopped him because they saw “distinctive bumps” around his stomach, reports American news medium ABC.
Those bumps turned out to be hundreds of animals crammed together. “He had them all locked up in small ziplock bags and tied around his body with two belts,” reports Pilar Ayala, a biologist with Peru’s National Forestry and Wildlife Service. The man has been arrested and all the animals have been handed over to animal protection.
Tarantulas are very lucrative for smugglers. Rare copies can fetch hundreds of euros each. “They are very attractive to smugglers because they are long-lived (some live up to 30 years) and the females do not breed very often,” Chris Hamilton, professor of entomology at the University of Idaho, told the BBC.