Overview
- Chinese national Zhang Kequn, 27, was arrested at Nairobi’s main airport last week with more than 2,200 live ants, including 1,948 Messor cephalotes, in his luggage.
- Zhang and Kenyan supplier Charles Mwangi pleaded not guilty to transporting wildlife illegally and dealing without permits before Senior Principal Magistrate Irene Gichobi.
- Kenyan immigration had flagged Zhang’s passport with a stop order after he evaded arrest last year, according to court documents.
- Authorities link Mwangi to a March 10 seizure in Bangkok traced from Mombasa, and he was arrested on March 13 with 1,000 live ants and 113 Messor cephalotes hidden in syringes.
- Ants can sell for about $100 each to collectors who keep colonies in formicariums, and a related Kenyan case last year resulted in fines of roughly $7,700 for trafficking thousands of ants.