London Pet Shop Owner Tries to Smuggle 1000 Spiders in Suitcase

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smuggled tarantula in pet-shop owner's suitcase

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uploaded by Blaine Metzgar

A London-based pet shop owner was caught trying to smuggle 1,000 live spiders outside of the UK in his suitcase by Brazilian police late Wednesday, November 11. The unnamed pet shop proprietor was arrested as he attempted to board a flight out of Rio de Janiero's international airport back home to Europe.

An X-ray machine operator noticed something a little fishy about two of the man's bags and called in police to investigate the luggage. Then man faces up to one year in jail if convicted of animal trafficking and may have to pay a fine upwards of £1.5m. The authorities came to the conclusion that the man was smuggling and selling the spiders out of his shop in London but are still looking into the incident further to see if he has a history of smuggling. Furthermore police are considering the possibility that the man was also involved with medicinal poison-extraction.

The Brazilian police stated the incident was the largest seizure of wildlife ever at the Rio de Janiero airport.