There was a sting in the tail for one would-be smuggler who was caught trying to sneak 150 live scorpions out of South Africa.
A 28-year-old man was arrested after an intelligence operation circulated his description before he was intercepted by officers at Cape Town International Airport on Friday.
His luggage was searched and 150 ‘live and venomous scorpions’ were discovered stashed between his folded clothes.
He was arrested under the Nature and Environmental Ordinance Act, after allegedly being in possession of a wild animal.
Police said the value of the scorpions is yet to be determined.
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The deadly critters were transported to a ‘haven for safe keeping’, police said.
‘He was arrested under the Nature and Environmental Ordinance Act, being in possession of a wild animal,’ police said in a statement, without naming the man.
Wildlife trafficking remains a major threat in South Africa, one of the world’s most biodiverse countries.
Criminal networks target iconic species like rhinoceroses and elephants, but also lesser-known creatures like pangolins and reptiles, fueling a lucrative global black market.
The suspect is expected to appear in court on Monday.
It came after an escaped scorpion stung a woman at Logan Airport in Boston while she was getting luggage in the baggage claim area.
At least the creatures weren’t the 1m long Praearcturus gigas equipped with pincers more than 16cm long which were revealed to have roamed Britain 415million years ago.
The findings by the Natural History Museum and The University of Manchester, published in the journal Palaeontology, were made possible by studying fossils housed in the museum’s collections for more than 150 years.
Researchers used modern analytical techniques and comparisons with newly described fossil species to conclude that Praearcturus was a distinct species of scorpion.
Dr Richard J. Howard, Curator of Fossil Arthropods at the Natural History Museum in London and lead author of the study, said: ‘When we think of giant arthropods, people often picture Carboniferous rainforests with giant millipedes or dragonfly-like insects from later in Earth’s history. But Praearcturus lived at least 50 million years earlier, well before the evolution of trees, when life on land was only just getting started.
‘Confirming that this animal is a scorpion fundamentally changes our understanding of how and when these creatures evolved to such extraordinary sizes.’