Adrian Onobanjo, a 47-year-old arriving from Togo, was stopped and searched at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Frieburg, four miles from the Swiss city of Basel, according to a report in the Austrian Times.
Security staff found more than 33 pounds (15kg) of the insects in a hidden compartment of his suitcase. When confronted about the discovery, the man is reported to have eaten as many as he could, to prove they were harmless.
“Even border guards hardened by the bizarre things we have had to deal with were shocked by this particular case,” Patrick Gantenbein, a border guard spokesman, told the newspaper. “The man obviously knew he shouldn't have been trying to bring them into the country as they were hidden under a false bottom in his suitcase and only discovered with an x-ray.
“He tried to tell us that it was a special type of root, but some of them were still moving. Then he claimed that, as they were for personal use, he should still be allowed to bring them into the country because they were a snack, and he was addicted to them.”
Another spokesman added: “The smell from the caterpillars that were mostly dead was pretty unbearable but it didn't seem to bother the man – and when he was told they would be kept and destroyed he grabbed as many as he could and started munching them. He said they were a delicacy and should not be wasted.”
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