A Kenyan court on Wednesday sentenced Chinese national Zhang Kequn to one year in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of one million Kenyan shillings ($7,746) for attempting to smuggle more than 2,200 live garden ants out of the country, in a ruling that underscores Africa’s intensifying battle against wildlife biopiracy.
Senior Principal Magistrate Irene Gichobi handed down the sentence at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) law courts in Nairobi, describing the 27-year-old as lacking remorse and characterising him as someone who was not entirely honest with the court. Zhang had initially denied charges of dealing in live wildlife without a permit but later changed his plea to guilty after a separate conspiracy charge was dismissed. His lawyer has signalled plans to appeal within the 14-day window.
Zhang was arrested on March 10 at Nairobi’s main international airport as he attempted to leave the country. Authorities discovered 2,238 ants in his luggage, including 1,948 specimens of the prized Messor cephalotes species, sealed inside test tubes. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) said the insects were destined for China, where collectors pay large sums to keep ant colonies inside transparent vessels known as formicariums for behavioral observation.
Kenyan immigration officials had previously flagged Zhang’s passport after he allegedly evaded arrest during a 2025 visit to the country, when prosecutors linked him to an earlier trafficking ring. He is believed to have fled at the time using a separate passport.
A Kenyan co-accused, Charles Mwangi, who allegedly supplied the ants to Zhang, has pleaded not guilty and remains on bail. His case will be heard separately.
Magistrate Gichobi stressed the need for a firm deterrent, citing the growing trend of ant-trafficking and the ecological damage caused by large-scale harvesting. The decision follows a 2025 case in which four individuals, including two Belgian nationals, a Vietnamese national, and a Kenyan, were each fined one million shillings for similar offences. KWS described that earlier case as a landmark, marking the first time Kenya’s wildlife protections, traditionally applied to species such as elephants and rhinos, were extended to cover insects.
