Kenya sentences four men for trying to smuggle ants out of the country

A court docket in Kenya has sentenced four men to one 365 days in detention center or to pay a elegant of $7,700 each and each, for trying to smuggle thousands of reside queen ants out of the country.

Authorities said the huge insects were destined for collectors in Europe and Asia in what’s seen as an rising development of trafficking lesser-identified plant life and fauna species.

Two of the men are Belgian youth who told the court docket they were collecting them as a hobby and did now no longer think it used to be unlawful.

Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19-years-historical, were arrested on 5 April with 5,000 ants in their possession at a visitor dwelling in Nakuru county, which is dwelling to a amount of nationwide parks.

Justice of the Peace Njeri Thuku said in her ruling on Wednesday that despite them telling the court docket they had been naïve and that it used to be a hobby, the particular species of ants they smooth is precious and they had thousands of them, now no longer right about a.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the species they held incorporated a particular, tremendous and purple-colored harvester ant native to East Africa.

The youth’ felony professional, Halima Nyakinyua, described the sentencing as “beautiful” and said her consumers would now no longer allure.

“When the statutes prescribe a particular minimal amount, the court docket can now no longer walk decrease than that. So, even supposing we went to the court docket of allure, the court docket is now no longer going to revise that,” she said.

The unlawful export of the ants “now no longer most effective undermines Kenya’s sovereign rights over its biodiversity but as well deprives native communities and evaluate establishments of doable ecological and financial benefits,” KWS said in a statement.

In a separate but linked case, a Vietnamese nationwide and a Kenyan got the identical sentence after they were stumbled on with 400 ants.

Duh Hung Nguyen told the court docket that he used to be despatched to derive the ants, while Kenyan Dennis Ng’ang’a, said he did no longer are mindful of it used to be unlawful because ants are bought and eaten domestically.