Kenyan Court Fines and Jails Chinese Man in Ant-Smuggling Case
Chinese national Zhang Kequn was arrested last month at Nairobi’s main international airport with more than 2,200 live garden ants in his luggage.
Chinese national Zhang Kequn stands outside the courtroom before his sentencing, after he pleaded guilty to charges of dealing with wildlife species without a permit and illegal possession of garden ants, on the day he was fined U.S. dollars 7,746 and a one year jail term, at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) Law Courts, in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 15, 2026. Monicah Mwangi/Reuters
NAIROBI, April 15—A Kenyan court on Wednesday ordered a Chinese man to pay a fine of 1 million shillings ($7,746) and gave him a 12-month jail term for trying to smuggle live ants out of the country.
The magistrate in the case said a stiff sentence was needed as a deterrent given a spate of cases in Kenya of ant-trafficking.
