Smuggling from Africa Customs discovers animal carcasses at Cologne/Bonn airport

Cologne/Bonn · Over a period of several weeks, customs at Cologne/Bonn Airport removed packages containing tons of animal carcasses from Africa. Packed only in newspaper, they were already infested with mould and maggots.

 One of the galagos discovered at Cologne/Bonn airport.

One of the galagos discovered at Cologne/Bonn airport.

Foto: dpa/Hauptzollamt Köln

Smuggling of tons of game meat from African animals has been uncovered at Cologne-Bonn Airport. Jens Ahland, press spokesman for the main customs office, said that a total of 15 packages containing about half a tonne of meat were discovered in the past weeks. Most of the animals were roasted or smoked.

The animals were animals that had been hunted in the jungle or in savannahs. "Besides four galagos, also called bush babies, a porcupine and an antelope, we also found large quantities of spoiled fish, crustaceans, cow skin and snails," says Ahland. The animals were among large quantities of clothing, medicines and cosmetics. The individual packages from Nigeria had weighed between 100 and almost 300 kilograms and had been addressed to private individuals in Germany, France and Belgium.

The animal carcasses were only packed in newspaper and plastic bags and were already infested with maggots and mould. Often the entire contents of the packages had to be destroyed, according to customs.

(Original text: Alexander Hertel; Translation: Mareike Graepel)

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