Chris Lange, FISM News

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German customs officials said a trail of slime led them to an illegal stash of nearly 100 giant African land snails and other items hidden inside bags at Dusseldorf Airport this month.

Authorities said that a customs worker tripped over one of the bags containing what appeared to be a toy, until the employee noticed that the bag was moving. It was then that the worker spotted a trail of shimmering goo leading to a stash of bags containing 93 giant African land snails, each around eight inches long, along with fish, smoked meat, and a suitcase packed with rotting meat. All of the items had been imported from Nigeria and were addressed to a shop in western Germany specializing in African goods.

The snails were handed over to a nearby animal rescue service and the other items were destroyed.

“Never in the history of the Duesseldorf customs office has a trail of slime led us to smuggled goods,” said its spokesman Michael Walk, according to an Associated Press report.

The Giant African Snail (Lissachatina fulica or GAS) is considered an invasive species by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. They are the most damage-causing snail species in the world, feeding on about 500 different varieties of plants. They also are known to cause extensive damage to structures made with plastic or stucco and often carry a parasitic nematode that can cause meningitis in humans. 

It took a full decade and $1 million to eradicate the invasive invertebrates from Florida in 2021, though state and federal officials are currently responding to a new invasion in Pasco County. Hawaii and the Caribbean have also been affected. The Giant African Snail produces around 1,200 eggs in a single year.