In early November a man traveling from Peru to Korea was caught by a security checkpoint with over 300 tarantulas strapped to his body. This man was a 28 year old male, who was attempting to smuggle these tarantulas out of their South American home with the intent to sell these creatures for a profit. He was on route to go home when he was stopped by the security checkpoint at Jorge Chávez International Airport of Peru. The security noticed a very obvious bulge in his abdomen region, and figured they should investigate their suspicions. After moving the man to a separate room, the security lifted his shirt and was shocked by their discoveries. They found 320 tarantulas in containers, some as big as an adult hand, strapped around his abdomen region wrapped in camouflage bags and reinforced with adhesive tape in an attempt to better hide the crime. Along with all of the tarantulas, security found 110 native centipedes, and 9 bullet ants. All of these creatures were illegally taken. The multiple containers full of these creepy crawlers were strapped to his abdomen using two separate belts. There were 35 adult Bolivian blue leg bird eater tarantulas which can often reach to be the size of a human hand. Officials believe that these endangered creatures were stolen from their homes in the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian amazon. “All were extracted illegally and are part of the illegal wildlife trafficking that moves millions of dollars in the world,” Walter Silva, a wildlife specialist at SERFOR, said in a statement. With holidays around the corner, there is an increased amount of attempted exotic animal smuggling through airports, as exotic or endangered animals and creatures are viewed as a valued hard-to-get gift in other countries that may not have the access to see these kinds of unique animals. Whether it is an endangered animal or not, when there is no access but there is demand, clients will pay whatever it takes. With clients also paying large sums of money for these illegally imported creatures, smugglers make a profit. Some smugglers may view this price as worth the risk of the price of the crime they will have committed. Peruvian officials have opened a case against the man, and will continue to prosecute him for his crimes. With a few of these stolen creatures being on the endangered list, the man can face large amounts of backlash from the community, as well as the expensive charges that come with the crimes committed.