Tarantula Smuggling Suspect Arrested In US
2:19pm UK, Saturday December 04, 2010
A man has been arrested for smuggling hundreds of tarantulas and other spiders into the US, after authorities mounting an elaborate sting operation to catch him.
The whistling-spider bird-eating tarantula is a large variety
Sven Koppler, 37, was arrested on December 2 after arriving in Los Angeles to meet an associate, following a nine-month investigation dubbed Operation Spiderman, prosecutors said.
The probe began last March when customs officers found 300 live tarantulas during a routine search of a package.
US fish and wildlife agents intercepted a second package containing nearly 250 live tarantulas wrapped in coloured plastic straws, as well as 22 Mexican red-kneed tarantulas.
In a bid to catch the organisers red-handed, agents ordered more tarantulas from Koppler, who sent a package containing 70 live ones and one dead spider.
Koppler, from Wachtberg in western Germany, allegedly earned some $300,000 (£190,000) from tarantula sales to spider fanciers in dozens of countries, including nine in the US.
A number of the packages included spiders whose import was in breach of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), legal documents said.
If found guilty he could face 20 years in jail and a fine of $250,000 (£158,000), according to prosecutors.
"Sending light and small packages containing tarantulas is the best way to avoid customs detection around the world," Koppler allegedly claimed in email exchanges with an undercover US agent.
Koppler added he could in theory smuggle tarantulas in his luggage when flying to Los Angeles, and would not be caught nine times out of 10 - but he preferred not to take the risk.
"I am a foreigner and they will probably put me in prison. You have special laws. You have other laws that we don't have" in Germany, he said.
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