Turkish customs seized Tuesday as many as 26 live tarantulas illegally imported by post in the southwestern city of Izmir.

The Commerce Ministry said in a statement that its field and intelligence teams acted on a tip-off about a dangerous shipment coming from abroad by mail.

Customs officers then determined the risky package and recovered live spiders from 18 tubes.

The teams recovered eight more spiders from a separate mail with similar features.

After contacting the national nature conservation body, the teams determined that tarantulas were on a list of forbidden import items and confiscated the shipment.

The 26 tarantulas were then delivered to the Provincial Directorate of Nature Conservation National Parks.