4 Men Charged With Trying to Smuggle Thousands of Ants From Kenya

Four men, including two Belgian teenagers, declared themselves guilty in a Kenyan court this week for traffic charges of thousands of living ants, that Kenya’s authorities said they intended to sell as pets.

The Belgians, David Lornoay and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19, were found with insects this month in a guest house near Naivasha, one of several popular areas of nature in Kenya. They had thousands of live queens, full of syringes and test tubes designed to keep insects alive for months, according to the Kenyan’s wildlife service.

The court said the ants were the equivalent of around $ 7,000 and, citing Intelgance reports, said they had been destined for exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia.

The unusual case underlines what Kenya’s officials say is a trend in the smuggling of wildlife, which has or the leg associated with species of high value and animal products: there is also money in smuggling of narrower and less known species. Live beetles hidden in Japan snacks have been found; The bright coral pieces are increasingly secreted through the US ports.

“This case highlights a growing global threat: the biopiría of the native species,” said Kenya’s wildlife service in a statement. He said that the unauthorized collection of ants “not only undermines Kenya’s sovereign rights over her biodiversity, but also deprives local communities and research institutions of possible ecological and economic benefits.”

The queen’s ants, the men declared themselves guilty of smuggling are highly valued by collectors of rare insects, which often maintain colonies of the ants in formicles or farm of artificial ant, where it can be observed by building complex colonies and tunnel systems. The species they were collecting, Kenya’s native Messor Cefalotes, is the world’s largest coast ant.

Two other men, Dennis N’Gang’a or Kenia, and Duh Hunguyen, a Vietnamese citizen, were also accused in a separate case of collecting illegally ants and treating in living wildlife species. They were found with hundreds of Garden Vivas ants, Zeth around $ 1,500, said the wildlife service.

When announcing the trial, the Kenyan Wildlife Service published photos of a living room tubes, cotton swabs and packaging materials. The delicately packaged tubes, some that contain multiple live ants in separate compartments, were designed to support animals for about two months, said the wildlife service.

In an appearance in court on Tuesday, Mr. Lornay and Mr. Lodewijckx seemed distressed and said they had been collecting the ants for fun, said Associated Press. They declared themselves guilty and waited for the sentence.

Edwin Okoth contributed reports.