Spiders, snakes, scorpions… It is a bestiary that will make many French people shudder and has been confiscated by the courts. Significant trafficking in exotic animals has in fact been dismantled between Guyana and Alsace, announced the Strasbourg public prosecutor’s office. Numerous protected species held illegally, sometimes in places “accommodating children”, were discovered during 14 searches carried out in different places on French territory.
A total of 97 tarantulas, 1,000 black widows potentially fatal venomas well as reptiles (5 boas, 4 pythons), 22 scorpions, turtles and two poison arrow frogs.
Suspects tried in September
Investigators discovered that four people living in Alsace regularly went to Guyana or foreign countries to look for arachnids and reptiles in order to sell them illegally in France for a total amount estimated at several thousand euros.
These four people were referred to the Strasbourg public prosecutor’s office on Friday with a view to placing them under judicial supervision. They will be judged in September and three other summons to the same hearing were sent to buyers, the prosecution said.