German customs find tarantulas hidden in spongecake boxes

Arachnophobes beware: Customs officials on Tuesday released photos from a seizure of roughly 1500 young tarantulas found inside plastic containers that had been hidden in chocolate sponge cake boxes shipped to an airport in western Germany.

Customs officials found the shipment at Cologne Bonn airport in a package that had arrived from Vietnam, tipped off by a “noticeable smell” that didn't resemble the expected aroma of the 7 kilograms of the confectionery treats, Cologne customs office spokesman Jens Ahland said.

"My colleagues at the airport are regularly surprised by the contents of prohibited packages from all over the world, but the fact that they found around 1500 small plastic containers containing young tarantulas in this package left even the most experienced among them speechless,” Ahland said in a statement.

Ahland hailed an “extraordinary seizure", but one that "saddens us to see what some people do to animals purely for profit”.

Many of the eight-legged creatures didn't survive the trip, in a suspected violation of German animal-welfare rules, while survivors were given to the care of an expert handler, the office said. Reached by phone, Ahland said that the estimated value of the shipment was being assessed.

Criminal proceedings are underway against the intended recipient in the Sauerland region, east of the airport, in part for alleged violations of failure to pay the proper import duties and make the proper customs declarations, the office said.

The tarantulas were discovered about three weeks ago, but the customs office only made the images public on Tuesday.