Overview
- Police detained Chinese national Zhang Kequn and Kenyan Charles Mwangi at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in early March with more than 2,000 live queen ants, and both pleaded not guilty to dealing in live wildlife.
- A court was told Zhang paid about £1,200 for the consignment, while authorities estimate the haul could fetch up to roughly £190,000 on European and Asian black markets.
- The ants were kept alive in test tubes wrapped in tissue inside luggage, with the shipment reportedly destined for China.
- Kenya Wildlife Service says investigators are expanding a sting into towns suspected of hosting ant‑harvesting farms and that more arrests are expected.
- Experts link the case to a fast‑growing collector market for exotic species and warn that removing queens can devastate colonies and harm savannah ecosystems.