Police, who attacked a guest house on the national park earlier this month, were intended not to break the elephant or rhino poachers, but a larger esoteric ring, trading with a much smaller, more draft object.
It was a ant smuggling ring.
Two Belgian teenagers were arrested for wildlife trafficking at Jane Gueshouse in Naivasha, Kenya on the edge of Hell’s Gate National Park. They, along with a Vietnamese man and a Kenyan citizen, have also accused of trafficking in ants, have pleaded guilty and will be sentenced on May 7, a magistrate said on Wednesday.
The Kenyan prosecutors have appreciated the attacks of queens taken from the giant African ants for the combine ants of about 1.2 million Kenyan shillings ($ 9,300).
Depending on the number and variety of each species found, however, Reuters estimated that the spring would cost up to $ 1 million if it reaches European shores.
The Kenyan officials show insects from ants of living queens that were intended for Europe and Asia, in the lawsuits of law at Jomo Kenya International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, April 15, 2025 (Keniya Divine Service through AP) (AP)
“It’s like cocaine,” said Dino Martins, director of the Turkana Institute and one of Kenya’s leading experts. “The price of cocaine in Colombia against getting a kilogram on the European market is such a great value. That’s why people do it.”
Based on the average price of the giant African ants of a combine of six retailers in the UK, each of about 5,440 queens seized at Nairobi Airport, according to court documents, is worth about £ 175 ($ 233).
Kenyan officials show insects from ants of living queens who were intended for Europe and Asia, in the lawsuits of law at Jomo Kenya International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, April. 15, 2025 (AP Photo/Brian Inganga) (AP)
Say of the ants, they pay large sums to maintain ants colonies in large transparent vessels known as forms that give an idea of their complex social structures and behavior.
But the Queen Ants are vital to any colony, as they are the only ones that can lay eggs that grow into a worker, soldier and future ants, which means that traffic can threaten colonies critical of the ecosystem of the wildlife of Kenya.
Hell’s Gate National Park Map:
Martins said that the value of the retail of the bug bust should be hardened by the expectation that 90% of them would probably die in transit from traffic in Europe and Asia from diseases, bacteria and freezing temperatures.
Nevertheless, record seizures have raised questions about whether the Heist attempt is one-off by lovers of lovers or a wider network of wildlife traffickers who are exploring new products and markets.
Exports of ants are authorized by Kenya with licenses, although the regulations are difficult to navigate, Martins said.
“We are not criminals, we are 18 years old, we are naive. I just want to go home to start my life,” said one of the Belgian defendants David Lornoy, said in the trial last week.
Belgian Nationals Seppe Lodewijckx (L) and Lornoy David (C) Sit with Their Co-Accused Vietnamese Duh Hung NGuyen (R) in the Mentation of the Case in Which The AREGE Ng’ang’a (unseen) with illegal posession and attempted Export of Protected Wildlife in Nairobi on April 23, 2025 (AF Via Giat images)
However, the Wildlife Service in Kenya said the case signals a remarkable shift in the tendencies in biophyte from emblematic large mammals to less known species that are no less environmentally critical.
“This case represents much more than the smuggling of insects,” says Erus Kanga, CEO of KWS.
“We see the unions of organized crime diversify from traditional ivory poaching to focus on all our biodiversity – from medicinal plants, insects to microorganisms,” he said in a statement.
Samuel Mutua, an expert in wildlife crimes in the International Animal Human Relationship Fund, said the ants case qualified as organized crime. “Regardless of their age, they were able to get a lot of ants,” he said.
The Kenyan officials show insects from ants of living queens, which were intended for Europe and Asia, in the courts of law at Jomo Kenya International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, April. 14, 2025.
For Martins, the furore over the case neglects the greater threat to insects in East Africa, placed by pesticides and habitat destruction that kill millions of ants every day.
Harvester’s ants, whose hard work is mentioned by King Solomon in the Bible, maintains the emblematic Valley Valley of Kenya by distributing and mixing seeds of grasses throughout the landscape, Martins said.
“If we had to lose all the elephants in Africa, we would have been devastated, but the lawn would continue. If we lost all the ants and termites, the savanna would collapse.”