International gang sentenced for smuggling thousands of ants in Kenya

1 month ago 19

A Kenyan tribunal has sentenced 4 men to 1 twelvemonth successful situation oregon wage a good of $7,700 (£5,800) for trying to smuggle thousands of unrecorded ants retired of the country.

The 4 suspects – 2 Belgians, a Vietnamese and a Kenyan – were arrested past period with 5,000 ants astatine a impermanent location successful the occidental municipality of Naivasha.

They had pleaded blameworthy to the charges and told the tribunal that they were collecting the highly sought-after ants arsenic a hobby and didn't deliberation it was illegal.

But delivering the condemnation connected Wednesday, the tribunal said the peculiar taxon of ants collected was invaluable and they had thousands of them — not conscionable a few.

It is believed that the ants were intended for exotic favored markets successful Europe and Asia.

The contraband included elephantine African harvester ants, which are valued by immoderate UK dealers astatine up to £170 ($220) each.

Belgian nationals Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, some 19, Vietnamese nationalist Duh Hung Nguyen and Kenyan Dennis Ng'ang'a, were handed akin presumption aft the magistrate considered their mitigation arguments.

The Belgians were recovered with 5,000 ants, portion Nguyen and Ng'ang'a had 300.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which is much utilized to protecting larger creatures, specified arsenic lions and elephants, has described this arsenic a "landmark case".

The lawsuit showed a "disturbing displacement successful trafficking patterns - from iconic mammals to lesser-known taxon that are captious to ecological balance", the KWS said past period erstwhile the 4 were arrested.

The Belgian teens had entered Kenya connected a tourer visa and were staying successful Naivasha, a municipality fashionable with tourists for its carnal parks and lakes.

The KWS said the request for uncommon insect taxon was growing.

In Kenya, the ants are protected by planetary bio-diversity treaties and their commercialized is highly regulated.