In the latest update, the Chennai Air Customs seized a parcel with 107 plastic vials containing foreign spiders. They have asked the postal authority to ship them back to Poland, over illegality of the items received without any proper documentation.
Live Spiders Found In Each Vial
As per the Commissioner of Customs, Chennai International Airport received a parcel from Polat and the Foreign Post Office. It was addressed to Arupukotai (Tamil Nadu). Upon inspection of the parcel, the officials found 107 small plastic vials wrapped in silver foil and cotton. The parcel contained arthropods (hard-bodies species without a backbone) or invertebrates (cold-blooded species without backbones).
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The officials confirmed that each vial had live spiders. Following this, WildLife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) officials and scientists from the Zoological Survey of India were called to identify the spiders.
Based on the morphological examination, the officers suspected that the spiders were of the genus Phonopelma and Brachypelma which are CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) listed Tarantulas, native of South, Central America and Mexico.
CITIES is an international agreement between government to ensure international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants that do not endanger their survival.
Animal Quarantine Officials Recommend Deporting
Following the investigation, the Animal Quarantine Officials recommended deporting the spiders in the parcel to the country of origin. They said that it is illegal to deport any such thing especially without any legal documents.
Further investigations are under progress. The spiders were seized under the Customs Act 1962 with FT (D&R) Act.
The parcel has been handed over to the postal services to be sent back to Poland.
