NAIROBI, Kenya — Two 19-year-old Belgian nationals were fined $7,700 or given the option of serving a one-year prison sentence by a Kenyan court after they were caught with 5,000 ants, a violation of the country’s wildlife conservation laws that officials say reflects a growing underground trade in lesser-known species.
The teenagers, identified as Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, were arrested April 5 at a guesthouse in Nakuru County, a region near several prominent national parks. Authorities allege the pair intended to traffic the ants to markets in Europe and Asia. They were formally charged April 15.
Appearing in court at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on Wednesday, the two told Magistrate Njeri Thuku that they had collected the insects as part of a hobby, claiming ignorance of the legal implications. But Thuku dismissed their explanation, emphasizing the large quantity and the commercial value of the species — particularly Messor cephalotes, a distinctive red harvester ant native to East Africa.
“This is beyond a hobby,” Thuku said. “Indeed, there is a biting shortage of messor cephalotes online.”
The ruling came with the minimum penalty under Kenyan law for wildlife offenses involving protected species. Defense attorney Halima Nyakinyua told reporters that the teens would not appeal the sentence, noting that statutory limits left the judge with no discretion to reduce the fine or term.
“When the statutes prescribe a specific minimum amount, the court cannot go lower than that,” she said. “Even if we went to the court of appeal, the court is not going to revise that.”
In a statement, the Kenya Wildlife Service condemned the trafficking attempt, stressing that such illegal exports undermine the nation’s sovereignty over its biodiversity and rob local communities and researchers of important ecological and economic resources.
A separate but related case resulted in similar penalties for Vietnamese national Duh Hung Nguyen and his Kenyan contact, Dennis Ng’ang’a, who were also each found with 400 ants. Magistrate Thuku described their meeting at the Nairobi airport as “part of an elaborate scheme” to acquire and ship the insects abroad. While Nguyen admitted to being sent to retrieve the ants, Ng’ang’a claimed ignorance, stating that ants are commonly sold and eaten locally.
Kenyan wildlife experts have raised alarms in recent weeks over what they describe as a surge in trafficking of overlooked wildlife species, including insects. Entomologist Shadrack Muya of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology warned that removing ants from their habitats could have dire environmental consequences.
“Ants play a very important role in the environment,” Muya said. “Their disturbance and removal will lead to disruption of the ecosystem.”
He cautioned that the ants may not survive when transplanted to foreign environments without careful adaptation efforts. “There is a likelihood of an ecological disaster that may happen due to that disturbance,” he said.
The case has underscored the growing complexity of wildlife trafficking, where even seemingly insignificant creatures like ants are now part of international black-market trade, triggering both ecological and legal repercussions.
