A 27-year-old Chinese national has been arrested in Kenya after authorities allegedly discovered more than 2,000 live queen ants hidden in his luggage at the airport.
The suspect, identified as Zhang Kequn, was intercepted on Tuesday, 10 March at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as he prepared to board a flight back to China.
According to investigators from the Kenya Wildlife Service, officials searching his bags discovered 2,238 live ants, most of them queen garden ants, carefully packed for transport.
Authorities say some of the insects were stored in test tubes, while around 300 were concealed inside rolls of tissue paper hidden in the suspect’s luggage.
Officials believe the ants were being smuggled for shipment to China, where certain rare insects are highly valued by collectors and breeders.
Investigators also revealed that Zhang had previously evaded arrest last year during an operation that dismantled a suspected ant trafficking network.
Reports indicate that the latest incident comes almost a year after another smuggling attempt was stopped at the same airport. In that case, two Belgian nationals, a Vietnamese national and a Kenyan citizen were arrested after authorities recovered about 5,000 giant African harvester ants that were also destined for China.
