German man admits mailing hundreds of tarantulas to U.S

[nadinbrzezinski]

Source: Reuters

Reuters) - A German national who shipped hundreds of live tarantulas into the United States through the mail pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal smuggling charge, prosecutors said.

In pleading guilty, 37-year-old Sven Koppler admitted mailing some 247 live tarantulas to federal agents in Los Angeles, who were posing as buyers as part of an investigation dubbed "Operation Spiderman."

Koppler further admitted sending the agents 22 Mexican red-kneed tarantulas, a species of spider formally known as Brachypelma smithi that is protected under an international treaty.

Koppler, who lives in Wachtberg, Germany, faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison when he is sentenced on April 11, U.S. Attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70I0EG20110119

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Ok this is just weird.

[forty6]

1. Maybe he can make friends with some spiders in his jail cell. You're right...

just weird!!!

[d_r]

2. oh man

he was smuggling them in to sell. When I first read the headline I thought he just sent them to random people. That would have been nuts!

[petronius]

11. That's exactly what I thought - it seemed like an original hobby, at least...

:rofl:

[hlthe2b]

3. I sure hope they were secured well...

Uggh... Imagine the poor UPS or postal worker.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Hubby is one and he and I HATE spiders

[Hardrada]

12. I tolerate them in some basement areas since they help

control certain insect populations. They are of modest size however.

[valerief]

5. Not as weird as the German guy a few years ago who posted online

to find someone who wanted to be eaten. He did it, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Meiwes

[ZombieHorde]

6. I used to have a Mexican Red-Knee Tarantula and she was awesome.

They are very mellow spiders, unless you are smaller than them.

Edit to add: I got my spider legally.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. I'll pass

me and arachnids are not in the best of terms. I must admit, neither are the two parrots.

But not too many folks want to have three year olds that never grow up either.

[ZombieHorde]

8. Three year olds are some of my favorite people. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Not when they turn into teens

Right now we are having a young Sun conure going through that... only thing missing is the parrot asking for the car keys.

[Chalfont]

18. Ban all "exotic" pets

Even if some animals are obtained legally, there are often dozens if not hundreds imported illegally because any animal can be documented to appear "legal". Nobody needs an arachnid as a pet, and arachnids have no reason to be in a cage.

[surrealAmerican]

20. Surely, a ban would only increase demand ...

... and lead to more smuggling.

[ZombieHorde]

22. Throw in televised sports and country music and you have yourself a deal. nt

[Drum]

10. weird indeed...and remember the smuggler

who was trying to travel by commercial airplane with a bunch of monkeys, some hidden in his clothing?!
Oy!

[Dappleganger]

13. A very long time ago I snuck a tarantula

onto a plane coming from a certain country (in a coke can). This was way, way before people were scared of their own shadow in the airlines (mid-80's). I gave him to my biology teacher who begged me to not tell him how I got him. ;)

[OrsonJoseph]

19. 20 Years to Life . . . w/no chance of parole

Be careful about admitting this to just anybody! There's no statute of limitations on "tarantula-terrorism"!

B-T-W: Do tarantulas really have knees?

[Flagrante]

14. He faces 20 years if federal prison?

I know a guy who shot and killed someone and served 6 years for it. Maybe a smuggler in prison raises the GDP more than a murderer in prison.

[mackerel]

15. Some people are so fecking weird!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

16. I know someone who ordered the illegal bombing of a country

and got off without ever being tried.

[OrsonJoseph]

17. Tarantula Memories

When I was a small kid growing up on our farm/ranch located south of Dallas-Fort Worth, once every spring there'd be an enormous migratory hoard of huge black tarantulas that would crawl en masse like a gigantic black shadow down the rural road that ran past our main house. My older brother would invariably catch 1 or 2 of them, place them in a large glass jar covered with a hole-punched lid or simply a piece of fishing net, & follow me around the house terrorizing me with the hideous devils until my mother would catch him in the act & make him turn them loose several fields away. The tarantulas' appearance was a weird phenomenon that happened only once each late spring, but it was truly EERIE-CREEPY. I'd forgotten about that for many years now until reading this bizarre article!

[ZombieHorde]

21. That would be a weird thing to behold. Edit to add: Welcome to DU! nt