Ant smugglers arrested in Kenya as government warns of changing trafficking trends

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Two Belgian teenagers were charged Tuesday with wildlife piracy aft they were recovered with thousands of ants packed successful trial tubes successful what Kenyan authorities said was portion of a inclination successful trafficking smaller and lesser known species.

Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, 2 19-year-olds who were arrested connected April 5 with 5,000 ants astatine a impermanent house, appeared distraught during their quality earlier a magistrate successful Nairobi and were comforted successful the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate they were collecting the ants for amusive and did not cognize that it was illegal.

In a abstracted transgression case, Kenyan Dennis Ng’ang’a and Vietnamese Duh Hung Nguyen besides were charged with amerciable trafficking successful the aforesaid courtroom, pursuing their apprehension portion successful possession of 400 ants.

The Kenya Wildlife Service, oregon KWS, said successful a connection that the 4 men were progressive successful trafficking the ants to markets successful Europe and Asia, and that the taxon included messor cephalotes, a distinctive, ample and red-colored harvester ant autochthonal to East Africa.

The amerciable export of the ants "not lone undermines Kenya’s sovereign rights implicit its biodiversity but besides deprives section communities and probe institutions of imaginable ecological and economical benefits,” KWS said.

Kenya has successful the past fought against the trafficking of assemblage parts of larger taxon of chaotic animals specified arsenic elephants, rhinos and pangolins among others. But the cases against the 4 men correspond "a displacement successful trafficking trends — from iconic ample mammals to lesser-known yet ecologically captious species,” KWS said.

The 2 Belgians were arrested successful Kenya’s Nakuru county, which is location to assorted nationalist parks. The 5,000 ants were recovered successful a impermanent location wherever they were staying, and were packed successful 2,244 trial tubes that had been filled with fabric wool to alteration the ants to past for months.

The different 2 men were arrested successful Nairobi wherever they were recovered to person 400 ants successful their apartments.

Kenyan authorities valued the ants astatine 1 cardinal shillings ($7,700). The prices for ants tin alteration greatly according to the taxon and the market.

Philip Muruthi, a vice president for conservation astatine the Africa Wildlife Foundation successful Nairobi, said ants play the relation of enriching soils, enabling germination and providing nutrient for taxon specified arsenic birds.

“The happening is, erstwhile you spot a steadfast forest, similar Ngong forest, you don’t deliberation astir what is making it healthy. It is the relationships each the mode from the bacteria to the ants to the bigger things,” helium said.

Muruthi warned of the hazard of trafficking taxon and exporting diseases to the cultivation manufacture of the destination countries.

“Even if determination is trade, it should beryllium regulated and cipher should beryllium taking our resources conscionable similar that,” helium said.