Spiders found in gift-wrapped cargo

Tarantulas inside plastic containers are shown at the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources in metropolitan Manila, Philippines on April 3, 2019.

Philippine customs officials were astonished when they opened nicely gift-wrapped boxes of cookies and oatmeal flown in all the way from Poland and discovered a hair-raising contraband: hundreds of live tarantulas.

Bureau of Customs personnel seized the 757 tarantulas at a mail exchange centre near Manila’s international airport. The spiders were hidden in plastic vials.