German customs officers find 1,500 spiders hidden in candy boxes at airport

Customs officials in Germany on Monday released photos from a seizure of around 1,500 spiders, found inside plastic containers that were hidden in boxes of chocolate cakes shipped to an airport in the west of the country.

Customs officials found the cargo at Cologne and Bonn airports in a package that had arrived from Vietnam, which was spotted by an "odour" that did not resemble the expected aroma of seven kilograms of sweets, said Jens Ahland, spokesman for the Cologne customs office.

"My colleagues at the airport are regularly surprised by the contents of banned packages from around the world, but the fact that they found around 1,500 small plastic containers containing tiny spiders in this package left even the most experienced ones speechless," Ahland said in a statement.

He called it an "extraordinary seizure," but one that "sads us when we see what some people do to animals simply for profit."

Many of the eight-legged creatures did not survive the journey, while the survivors were given to an expert trainer.

The spiders were discovered about three weeks ago, but the customs office only made the images public on Monday.

Smuggling insects into Europe for profit is not uncommon. In May, two teenagers were convicted by a Kenyan court after being found with 5,000 ants in their home. (A2 Televizion)