In the winner of the oh hell nah award, a man ended up strapping hundreds of tarantulas and centipedes to his body to try to smuggle them out of the country. Why someone would voluntarily do such the thing is probably a question best answered by a shrink.
But authorities ended up arresting the man and throwing him jail. Honestly, I would choose jail over the alternative in this situation. Airport security noticed that the man had bulging clothes on. They quickly realized the horrific reason why. He had 320 tarantulas and 110 centipedes among other insects strapped to his body.
The man was trying to smuggle them out of the country at Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport. They stopped him when his stomach appeared to be abnormally bigger than it should have been, according to Peru's National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR) in a press release. They asked him to lift his shirt.
Tarantulas For Days
That revealed two belts with various bags and packages. Within those bags were tarantulas and other bugs. We're dealing with 35 adult tarantulas, 285 juvenile tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants. A perfect arrangement of horror! The adult tarantulas were the size of a human hand and each had their own containers.
What turns this story from horrifying to slightly sad is the conservation concerns. All of these arachnids are native to the Amazon. In particular, the tarantulas are on an endangered species list. Basically, none of them needed some smuggler trying to kidnap them out of the country. Authorities believe the man extracted the arachnids from Madre de Dios, which makes up 12% of the Peruvian Amazon.
Authorities believes the case to be a part of a global wildlife smuggling ring. Smuggling cases like these are then sold to the highest bidder. So, it's likely that the man will be doing some time behind bars. I can't imagine someone taking the time to catch all of these arachnids then strapping them to their body. But the criminal mind works in mysterious ways. I'm not sure how he expected to get past airport security. That's another mater.
