This unexpected discovery was revealed by our colleagues from La Capitale. On March 26, around 4 p.m., the police went to rue Honoré Longtin, in Jette, to a house divided into apartments. According to information from our colleagues, confirmed by the police zone, the agents were called for a conflict between a tenant (absent at the time) and the owner. At the time of the inspection of the accommodation, the police discovered a floor and especially the strange menagerie of 221 tarantulas stored in about seventy plastic boxes.
221 tarantulas, 26 of which are dangerous.
Interviewed by La Capitale, Gaëtan Doppagne, the expert dispatched to the site, explains that it took 5 hours to box all his spiders. He assures that in the batch, only one was dead and that many of them lacked water. Their lives were not in danger. All the specimens found are poisonous, but 26, from 7 different species, were really dangerous. The expert noted on the spot that two terrariums were open.
All tarantulas were sent to a specialized center in Germany.
A report was drawn up against the Polish tenant for possession without authorization and trade in these tarantulas. Gaëtan Doppagne explains to La Capitale that there were about 10,000 euros worth of spiders and that the tenant necessarily raised some since there were babies.
It remains to be seen whether the man, who did not have a permit, was trading in it. Still according to our colleagues, he would have refused to voluntarily abandon his 8-legged critters and would have hired a lawyer to recover them.