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IOL News
21-05-2025
- IOL News
Ant smuggling bust in Kenya uncovers million-dollar global insect trade
Its not just big animals that are smuggled, tiny insects like ants are also targeted. WILDLIFE trafficking is no longer just a threat to Africa's elephants and rhinos, now even its smallest inhabitants are being targeted for profit. In a case that has shocked conservationists, Kenyan authorities recently intercepted an attempt to smuggle 5,400 live queen ants out of the country, spotlighting a growing black market for insects. In April, two Belgian teenagers, a Vietnamese national, and a Kenyan accomplice were caught trying to sneak the ants, primarily of the Messor cephalotes species, out of Kenya. The insects were carefully packed into over 2,200 modified test tubes and syringes to keep them alive for transport to European collectors. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) valued the collection at approximately 1.2 million Kenyan shillings. On the European underground market, the ants could have sold for up to one million US dollars, underscoring the lucrative nature of this little-known trade. While high-profile smuggling cases involving ivory or rhino horn often dominate headlines, this incident reveals how traffickers are shifting focus to smaller, less conspicuous species that still fetch high prices among global hobbyists. 'The smuggling of ants, it is not a good thing. The smuggling of any animal to places where they don't occur naturally is quite troublesome,' said Professor Henk Bouwman of the Unit for Environmental Sciences and Management at North-West University. 'Ants are a fantastic group of animals to study and to look at. There are 12,000 to 15,000 known species, and we estimate that there might be more than double that. They're really, really incredible,' he said. 'They occur in almost any habitat, from deep underground to right at the top of trees in rainforest.'
Time of India
07-05-2025
- Time of India
Kenya court fines teens for trying to smuggle protected ants
NAIROBI: A Kenyan court on Wednesday fined four people, including two Belgian teenagers, more than $7,000 for attempting to smuggle thousands of live ants out of the country. The case has received considerable attention after the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) accused the four of engaging in "bio-piracy". Tired of too many ads? go ad free now David Lornoy and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 18 of Belgium, Duh Hung Nguyen of Vietnam and Dennis Nganga of Kenya all pleaded guilty to possession of the ants, but denied seeking to traffic them. Lornoy and Lodewijckx were arrested in possession of 5,000 queen ants packed in 2,244 tubes in Nakuru County, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the capital Nairobi. Duh and Nganga were found with ants stored in 140 syringes packed with cotton wool and two containers, according to a charge sheet seen by AFP. The two cases were separate but all four were tried together. Lornoy was described as an "ant enthusiast" who kept colonies at home in Belgium and was member of a Facebook group called "Ants and Ant Keeping", according to the sentencing report. He told investigators he was not aware that transporting the ants was illegal. Police had put the value of the ants taken by the Belgians at one million shillings ($7,740). The haul included the rare Messor cephalotes species, a single queen ant of which currently sells for at least $99, according to the court report. Possession of any wildlife specimen or trophy without a permit is a criminal offence in Kenya, with suspects normally subject to a fine of up to $10,000 and five years or more in prison. The court ultimately sentenced all four to a fine of one million shillings ($7,740), or a year in prison if they failed to pay. The court said Lornoy and Seppe "do not come across as typical poachers" and were ignorant of the law. But it said the case reflected a script "that has been played out before in centuries gone by... Tired of too many ads? go ad free now of Africa having resources that are plundered by the West and now the East". The KWS said their action was not only a "wildlife crime but also constitutes bio-piracy". The suspects "intended to smuggle the ants to high-value in Europe and Asia, where demand for rare insect species is rising", it said in a statement.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Yahoo
Kenya court fines teens for trying to smuggle protected ants
A Kenyan court on Wednesday fined four people, including two Belgian teenagers, more than $7,000 for attempting to smuggle thousands of live ants out of the country. The case has received considerable attention after the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) accused the four of engaging in "bio-piracy". David Lornoy and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 18 of Belgium, Duh Hung Nguyen of Vietnam and Dennis Nganga of Kenya all pleaded guilty to possession of the ants, but denied seeking to traffic them. Lornoy and Lodewijckx were arrested in possession of 5,000 queen ants packed in 2,244 tubes in Nakuru County, around 160 kilometres (100 miles) from the capital Nairobi. Duh and Nganga were found with ants stored in 140 syringes packed with cotton wool and two containers, according to a charge sheet seen by AFP. The two cases were separate but all four were tried together. Lornoy was described as an "ant enthusiast" who kept colonies at home in Belgium and was member of a Facebook group called "Ants and Ant Keeping", according to the sentencing report. He told investigators he was not aware that transporting the ants was illegal. Police had put the value of the ants taken by the Belgians at one million shillings ($7,740). The haul included the rare Messor cephalotes species, a single queen ant of which currently sells for at least $99, according to the court report. Possession of any wildlife specimen or trophy without a permit is a criminal offence in Kenya, with suspects normally subject to a fine of up to $10,000 and five years or more in prison. The court ultimately sentenced all four to a fine of one million shillings ($7,740), or a year in prison if they failed to pay. The court said Lornoy and Seppe "do not come across as typical poachers" and were ignorant of the law. But it said the case reflected a script "that has been played out before in centuries gone by... of Africa having resources that are plundered by the West and now the East". The KWS said their action was not only a "wildlife crime but also constitutes bio-piracy". The suspects "intended to smuggle the ants to high-value exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia, where demand for rare insect species is rising", it said in a statement. str-er/rlp
New York Times
17-04-2025
- New York Times
4 Men Charged With Trying to Smuggle Thousands of Ants From Kenya
Four men, including two Belgian teenagers, pleaded guilty in a Kenyan court this week on charges of trafficking thousands of live ants, which the Kenyan authorities said they had intended to sell as pets. The Belgians, David Lornoy and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19, were found with the insects this month at a guesthouse near Lake Naivasha, one of several popular nature areas in Kenya. They had thousands of live queen ants, packed in syringes and test tubes designed to keep the insects alive for months, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service. The court said the ants were worth the equivalent of around $7,000 and, citing intelligence reports, said they had been destined for exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia. The unusual case underscores what Kenyan officials say is a trend in wildlife smuggling, which has often been associated with high-value species and animal products: There is money to be made in smuggling smaller, lesser-known species, too. Live beetles have been found hidden in snack packs from Japan; live bits of coral are more and more often being secreted through U.S. ports. 'This case highlights a growing global threat: the biopiracy of native species,' the Kenya Wildlife Service said in a statement. It said that the unauthorized collection of the ants 'not only undermines Kenya's sovereign rights over its biodiversity but also deprives local communities and research institutions of potential ecological and economical benefits.' The queen ants the men pleaded guilty to smuggling are highly valued by rare insect collectors, who often keep colonies of the ants in formicariums, or artificial ant farms, where they can be observed building complex colonies and tunnel systems. The species they were collecting, the Messor cephalotes native to Kenya, is the largest harvester ant in the world. Two other men, Dennis N'gang'a of Kenya, and Duh Hung Nguyen, a Vietnamese citizen, were also charged in a separate case with illegally collecting ants and dealing in live wildlife species. They were found with hundreds of live garden ants, worth around $1,500, the wildlife service said. In announcing the arrests, the Kenya Wildlife Service released photos of a living room littered with test tubes, cotton swabs and packing materials. The delicately packed tubes — some containing multiple live ants in separate compartments — were designed to sustain the animals for around two months, the wildlife service said. In a court appearance on Tuesday, Mr. Lornoy and Mr. Lodewijckx appeared distraught and said they had been collecting the ants for fun, The Associated Press reported. They pleaded guilty and were awaiting sentencing.
