A man has been fined $12,800 for crimes relating to his arachnid house of horrors. His home played host to over 92 tarantulas — only discovered following a failed attempt to smuggle six other tarantulas into the country via Tuas Checkpoint.
According to a joint news release by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) and Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), 34-year-old Tam Jiaming was slapped with the massive fine for illegally importing and rearing the spiders in his house.
“Tarantulas are not approved to be kept as pets in Singapore,” reminded ICA and AVA, in case you were morbidly curious. “Some of the tarantulas are species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).”
In one of the more stranger (and creepier) cases of illegal wildlife smuggling, ICA officers had been inspecting a Singapore-registered car at Tuas Checkpoint on the afternoon of Jan 4 when they found not one, but six live tarantulas in a sling bag. Tam had the hairy little critters kept individually in containers in a bag that was placed on the rear passenger seat.
Follow-up investigations uncovered an additional 92 tarantulas at the man’s residence. *Shudder*
The tarantulas have since been seized and are currently cared for by Wildlife Reserves Singapore.
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