German man pleads guilty to smuggling live tarantulas into L.A.

A German man accused of shipping hundreds of live tarantulas by mail to the United States has pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to a federal animal-smuggling charge, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Sven Koppler, 37, admitted Monday that he shipped 247 live tarantulas to federal agents in L.A. who posed as buyers in a 10-month investigation dubbed "Operation Spiderman." Koppler also shipped 22 Mexican red-kneed tarantulas, formally known as Brachypelma smithi, a species protected under international treaty, officials said.

Prosecutors said Koppler made $300,000 by selling spiders to people worldwide. Koppler, who lives in Wachtberg, Germany, will be sentenced April 11 and faces a maximum term of 20 years in federal prison.

Agents began investigating last March after a routine search of an international package revealed about 300 live tarantulas on their way to L.A., according to a criminal complaint. A second package intercepted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents contained nearly 250 live tarantulas wrapped in colored plastic straws , including the Mexican red-kneed tarantulas.

Agents began posing as customers, ordering dozens more tarantulas from the smuggler, officials said.

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Photo: Tarantulas confiscated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A German national admitted shipping the tarantulas into the U.S. through the mail and pleaded guilty to a federal animal-smuggling charge, prosecutors said. Credit: Reuters / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Comments

[Aerojack7]

Germans sneaking tarantulas into America is becoming epidemic. These sneaky Jerry's have been plotting to put them into American toilets to terrorize Yankee women and have our men needlessly awoken from sound sleep to take care of the problem.

A boycott of toaster strudel would seem prudent. Glenn Beck, where are you???