Kenyan court jails 4 for attempting to smuggle 5,000 live ants

A Kenyan court has sentenced four men to one year in prison or a fine of $7,700 (approximately £5,800) each after they were caught attempting to smuggle thousands of live ants out of the country, in what authorities have described as an unusual but serious wildlife crime.

The four – Belgian nationals Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, both aged 19, Vietnamese national Duh Hung Nguyen, and Kenyan citizen Dennis Ng’ang’a – were arrested last month at a guesthouse in the lakeside town of Naivasha.

Wildlife officials recovered 5,000 live ants in their possession, which they believed were being prepared for illegal export.

Appearing before the Naivasha magistrate’s court, the suspects pleaded guilty to the charges, arguing they had collected the ants as part of a personal hobby and did not realize the activity was unlawful.

However, the court dismissed this defense, noting that the men had collected not just a few ants but thousands, including a species deemed valuable on the black market.

“These were not ordinary ants,” said the magistrate in the ruling delivered on Wednesday.

“They had in their possession thousands of specimens of a species with significant ecological and commercial value.”

The court identified the insects as giant African harvester ants, a species prized in some exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia. According to wildlife trade experts, individual ants of this species can fetch up to £170 ($220) each on the UK market.

Wildlife conservationists have welcomed the sentence, saying it sends a strong message that even the smuggling of less-charismatic species will be met with firm legal consequences.

“This case shows how biodiversity trafficking is evolving,” said a spokesperson from the Kenya Wildlife Service.

“Insects may seem insignificant, but they play critical ecological roles — and in the wrong hands, they become commodities.”

The four men will serve one year in prison if they fail to pay the fine. Authorities are also investigating whether the suspects were working on behalf of a larger network involved in illegal wildlife trade.