Sven Koppler, 37, a German man convicted of shipping hundreds of live tarantulas by mail to the United States has been sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to a federal animal-smuggling charge and has also agreed to pay a $4000 fine.
He is described by a federal prosecutor as one of the "largest illegal importers of tarantulas".
Koppler had previously admitted that he shipped 247 live tarantulas to federal agents in L.A. who posed as buyers in a 10-month investigation known as "Operation Spiderman."
Koppler also shipped 22 Mexican red-knee tarantulas, or Brachypelma smithi, a species protected under international treaty, officials said. Prosecutors said Koppler made $300,000 by selling spiders to people worldwide.
Koppler, who lives in Wachtberg, Germany, could have received a maximum term of 20 years in federal prison.
Agents began investigating in March 2010 after a routine search of an international package revealed about 300 live tarantulas on their way to L.A.
A second package intercepted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents contained nearly 250 live tarantulas wrapped in colored plastic straws, including the Mexican red-kneed tarantulas.
Koppler received hundreds of thousands of dollars from sales of tarantulas in dozens of countries, including transactions with about nine people in the United States.
Koppler allegedly placed the spiders inside small plastic tubes. Federal prosecutors say agents posing as buyers ordered additional tarantulas from Koppler, who sent them from Germany to the agents in the United States.
The agents received a package in April that included about 70 live tarantulas and one dead spider and four packages last month that included several dozen live and dead tarantulas.
The undercover buys involved Brachypelma, which are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Animal smuggling today is second only to drug smuggling as a major international illegal business. The animals are generally purchased from poor natives who, knowing nothing about the endangered status of such animals, sell them at throw-away prices.
Title 18. Crimes and Criminal Procedure. Part I. Crimes. Chapter 27. Customs. § 545. Smuggling goods into the United States (goods includes animals)
Whoever knowingly and willfully, with intent to defraud the United States, smuggles, or clandestinely introduces or attempts to smuggle or clandestinely introduce into the United States any merchandise which should have been invoiced, or makes out or passes, or attempts to pass, through the customhouse any false, forged, or fraudulent invoice, or other document or paper; or
Whoever fraudulently or knowingly imports or brings into the United States, any merchandise contrary to law, or receives, conceals, buys, sells, or in any manner facilitates the transportation, concealment, or sale of such merchandise after importation, knowing the same to have been imported or brought into the United States contrary to law--
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
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