How would you like to have been one of the custom officials opening up a package that had come from Hong Kong that had been marked “personal clothing” only to find about 300 live scorpions and spiders!

The scorpions and spiders had been packed in nets, bottles and transparent plastic boxes and were concealed under clothing and newspapers within the package. Tarantulas were also included in the spider tally.

“The scorpions almost bit the examiner,” Nelson Ebio, a port collector at the Central Mail Exchange Center, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It was the first time the post office had encountered such poisonous mail, he said.

The package had arrived from Hong Kong on a Monday, but it wasn’t clear who had sent the package or why although it’s been speculated that the package was intended for someone who collects these types of invertebrates and insects. My guess, having been involved in reptile keeping, is more along the lines that these creatures were being smuggled into the country illegally for the pet trade.

The spiders and scorpions have been handed over to Manila parks and wildlife officials.

The spiders and scorpions were later handed over to the parks and wildlife office.