Kenyan court convicts four ant traffickers, fines each $7,700

A Kenyan court on Wednesday fined four men $7,700 (R140,826) each for attempting to traffic thousands of ants out of the country, in a case that wildlife experts say signals a shift in biopiracy from iconic animals like elephants to lesser-known species.

Authorities arrested two Belgian teenagers, a Vietnamese man and a Kenyan national on April 5, accusing them of trying to smuggle roughly 5,440 giant African harvester ant queens, which Kenyan prosecutors valued at around 1.2-million Kenyan shillings (R169,761).

However, retail prices in the UK suggest the haul may have fetched as much as $1m (R18.3m) if it had reached European shores, where ant keepers maintain colonies in large transparent vessels known as formicariums to observe their cooperative behaviour.

Magistrate Njeri Thuku ordered the traffickers, who all pleaded guilty, to pay the fine or face 12 months in jail.

Reuters