British man caught smuggling hundreds of spiders

A UK resident could be facing massive fines after attempting to smuggle approximately 1,000 spiders onto a British-bound flight from Brazil.

26-year-old Lee Ardern was arrested by Brazilian authorities at a customs check point in a Rio de Janeiro airport. Ardern had been trying to carry into the cabin a briefcase packed full of the arachnids, including the deadly Brazilian Wandering Spider.

The briefcase contained several individually wrapped boxes full of species of spiders, all of which managed to survive the ordeal. Several species of extremely rare tarantula were also inside the carry-on luggage. Initial reports have suggested that Ardern runs a small business in the West Welsh town of Cardigan, appropriately titled The Spider Shop. Ardern had told members of the police that he was a pet shop owner in the UK. He has been charged with illegal trafficking of animals.

The unwelcome discovery was made by an eagle-eyed camera operator at a security checkpoint who noticed the mass of legs somehow through an x-ray. Local authorities were shocked and no doubt alarmed at the discovery, claiming that the chaos that may have ensued inside the cabin had the spiders escaped would have been unimaginable.

Ardern did admit to the offences of trafficking, admitting he had hoped to sell the spiders on his return to the UK. Ardern had arrived in Brazil from another flight which was inbound from Paraguay, where Ardern said he had purchased the spiders for around ?3 each. He claimed that he could resell them at ten times the price back home in Britain.

Brazilian officials are also investigating whether Ardern may have been attempting to extract poisons from the spiders for manufacturing medicine or drugs.