A court in Kenya has sentenced two teenagers from Mol in Antwerp Province to either 1 year in prison or a fine of 1 million Kenyan Shilling (around 7,000 euro) after they were convicted of attempting to smuggle thousands of ants out of the country.
The two were arrested at the boarding house they were staying at earlier last month. They were found to be in possession of 5,000 live ants that they were keeping in test tubes and syringes. They claimed that they had been “naïve and stupid”. However, the court didn’t believe them. The judge said that “This goes further than a hobby. This particular species is valuable, and they had thousands of them, not just a few”.
The two Flemings were both fined 1 million Kenyan Shilling (just under 7,000 euro). If they are unable or unwilling to pay the fine within 14 days they will be sent to prison for 1 year. Two other people that were on trial for smuggling were given the same sentence, although they had been caught with just a few hundred ants.
The Kenya Wildlife Service takes a very dim view of ant smuggling. The Service believes that the ants found in the two Flemings’ possessions were destined for sale in Europe or Asia. “This is a form of eco-piracy. The illegal export of ants not only undermines sovereign rights regarding biodiversity, but it denies local communities and research institutes potential ecological and economic advantages”, the Kenyan Wildlife Service said.