A team of roofers discovered one of the world's deadliest scorpions - in a box of tiles.<br /><br />Jamie Cooke, 30, and his workers spotted the highly venomous yellow Brazilian arachnid while on a job in Devon.<br /><br />The scorpion - Tityus serrulatus - had been transported all the way from South America to Plymouth.<br /><br />It carries an extremely toxic venom and is the most dangerous scorpion in South America and is responsible for the most fatal cases of scorpion bites.<br /><br />Jamie, who runs Ocean City Roofing Ltd, said: "We had no idea it was so dangerous - thank goodness we didn't to be honest.''<br /><br />Jamie's brother, Ben Cooke, discovered the scorpion while opening a pallet which contained 600 tiles on July 23.<br /><br />Jamie said: "We were all on the job, I had all the lads there and my brother emptied out this pallet - where he saw a scorpion scurry under some slate.<br /><br />"So we all jumped down to give him a hand to empty the pallets to not hurt the little thing, and managed to put it in a tub."<br /><br />He explained how one of his friends knew the owner of a local reptile centre and after speaking to them was told to get the scorpion over 'immediately' and 'not to touch it'.<br /><br />Jamie added: "So I drove it down there straight away.<br /><br />"The scorpion wasn't wasn't that big, the guy said it would have stung if it was older - and it wasn't a baby but not fully grown either.<br /><br />"Me and the team are pretty relieved - I've never seen anything like that before and I hope I don't again!"<br /><br />The scorpion is now being cared for at Plymouth Reptile and Aquatic.
