Thank Goodness the airlines didn't lose this luggage
Sep 30, 1999, 8:16 pm
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Thank Goodness the airlines didn't lose this luggage
German Customs Nab Woman with 1,300 Mexican Spiders
by Associated Press - September 24, 1999
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) Customs agents announced Friday a huge capture of illegal passengers at Frankfurt airport: 1,300 Mexican bird spiders hidden in the luggage of a French woman.
The woman, who was not identified, was arrested Sept. 3 on suspicion of smuggling a protected species, customs officials said.
Estimated value of hairy mygalomorphs was 263,000 marks ($14,000/13,400 euros).
Agents became suspicious because the woman had an unusually large amount of luggage for the short trip she had been on. The manner in which the luggage was packed also indicated professional smuggling, a customs statement said.
All of the spiders were female and 112 of them had died during transport. The survivors, most of them pregnant, were placed with various zoo facilities for care, pending return to their natural habitat, customs said.
by Associated Press - September 24, 1999
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) Customs agents announced Friday a huge capture of illegal passengers at Frankfurt airport: 1,300 Mexican bird spiders hidden in the luggage of a French woman.
The woman, who was not identified, was arrested Sept. 3 on suspicion of smuggling a protected species, customs officials said.
Estimated value of hairy mygalomorphs was 263,000 marks ($14,000/13,400 euros).
Agents became suspicious because the woman had an unusually large amount of luggage for the short trip she had been on. The manner in which the luggage was packed also indicated professional smuggling, a customs statement said.
All of the spiders were female and 112 of them had died during transport. The survivors, most of them pregnant, were placed with various zoo facilities for care, pending return to their natural habitat, customs said.
