Kenyan court jails Chinese man for smuggling 2,200 live queen ants

The ant smuggling case that landed Zhang Kequn in court was not a curiosity. It showed how a global wildlife trade that once centered on elephants and rhinos has expanded into lesser-known species, with live insects now drawing serious money from collectors abroad.

A Kenyan court ordered Zhang, a Chinese national, to pay a 1 million shilling fine, about $7,746, and serve 12 months in prison after he was caught in March at Nairobi’s main international airport with more than 2,200 live queen garden ants. Officers said the insects were concealed in specialised tubes and tissue rolls inside his luggage, a method that pointed to an organized and deliberate shipment rather than a casual collection.

Zhang initially pleaded not guilty to charges including dealing in live wildlife species, then changed his plea to guilty. Magistrate Irene Gichobi said the punishment was meant as a deterrent, citing a rising number of ant-trafficking cases in Kenya and the ecological damage that can follow mass harvesting of garden ants. She also described Zhang as not “entirely honest” and lacking in remorse.

Prosecutors said Zhang and a Kenyan co-accused, Charles Mwangi, did not have the permits required under Kenya’s wildlife conservation laws. Mwangi, who was accused of supplying the ants, has pleaded not guilty and is out on bail. His case was not before the court on Wednesday.

The sentence came as investigators and conservation officials confront a market that now treats ants as valuable living commodities. Authorities have said the insects are in demand among collectors in Europe and Asia, where buyers pay large sums to keep colonies in transparent formicariums. In this case, local reporting and authorities valued the ants at about 1 million shillings, while collector-market prices can reach about $220 per ant.

The court said Zhang would be referred to his home country after serving his prison term. His lawyer said he would appeal and had 14 days to do so.

The case follows another ant-trafficking prosecution last year, when four men were each fined 1 million shillings for trying to traffic thousands of ants. Together, the cases show how wildlife trafficking has become more diverse, more international and harder to dismiss as a low-level offense, even when the contraband fits in a suitcase.