Man caught trying to smuggle hundreds of tarantulas on a plane

‘In addition to the spiders, the South Korean traveler also had 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants in containers taped to his body, Peruvian authorities said.

Andrew JeongNovember 16, 2024 at 1:36 a.m. EST

A tarantula that was seized from a South Korean man at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru, as he was attempting to smuggle hundreds of spiders, centipedes and bullet ants out of the country. (SERFOR/Reuters)

Peruvian authorities arrested a 28-year-old South Korean man for allegedly trying to smuggle hundreds of tarantulas, centipedes and bullet ants out of the South American country.

Security officials at Peru’s Jorge Chavez International Airport in the capital, Lima, were conducting security checks Nov. 8 when they noticed a man who appeared to have a swollen stomach, according to a press release Wednesday from Peru’s National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR). The security officials asked him to lift his shirt.

They found dozens of camouflaged plastic bags and containers reinforced with adhesive tape and tied to two belts. Upon closer inspection, the officials noticed hundreds of dark, crawling creatures that turned out to be 35 adult, hand-size tarantulas, 285 juvenile tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants native to the Peruvian Amazon River, and probably from Peru’s Madre de Dios region.

“While the animals were completely overcrowded, mistreated and carefully wrapped, they were put in a safe place,” SERFOR said.

The adult tarantulas belong to a species listed on Peru’s endangered list, SERFOR wildlife specialist Walter Silva said in the press release.

The 28-year-old man, who was not named by Peruvian authorities, was headed to South Korea via France, SERFOR said. Peruvian prosecutors have opened a case against him, it added. The South Korean Embassy in Lima could not be reached for comment late Friday.

Wildlife trafficking affects more than 4,000 animal and plant species globally, including 3,250 that are endangered, according to a U.N. report released this year that gathered data from 162 countries during a six-year period. Trafficking reduces populations of wildlife and harms the ecosystem, U.N. officials say.

In the United States, the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the Lacey Act of 1900 severely restrict the trade and transportation of wild animals or plants.“