Vietnamese national Duh Hung Nyugen and Kenyan Dennis Ng'ang'a react during their sentencing after they pleaded guilty of illegal possession and trafficking of garden ants, they were both fined U.S. dollars 7,700 or one year imprisonment, at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Law Courts, in Nairobi, Kenya May 7, 2025.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Nairobi: A Kenyan court on Wednesday fined four men $7,700 each for attempting to traffic thousands of ants out of the country, in a case that wildlife experts say signals a shift in biopiracy from iconic animals like elephants to lesser-known species.
Authorities arrested two Belgian teenagers, a Vietnamese man and a Kenyan national on April 5, accusing them of trying to smuggle roughly 5,440 giant African harvester ant queens, which Kenyan prosecutors valued at around 1.2 million Kenyan shillings ($9,300).
However, retail prices in the UK suggest the haul may have fetched as much as $1 million if it had reached European shores, where ant keepers maintain colonies in large transparent vessels known as formicariums to observe their cooperative behaviour.
Magistrate Njeri Thuku ordered the traffickers, who all pleaded guilty, to pay the fine or face 12 months in jail.