*Event date: 2026-04-15*

A Nairobi court has sentenced a Chinese national to one year in prison and fined him after he pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle thousands of ants out of Kenya. The case has drawn attention to a lucrative trade in insects that authorities in east Africa say was exposed last year. The man, Zhang Kequn, had been arrested after evading capture until March 10 and was later linked to another case involving a Vietnamese and a Kenyan national. The court said the sentence followed his guilty plea after one charge was dismissed.

More than 2,200 ants were found in test tubes inside Zhang’s luggage at Nairobi’s international airport, according to the evidence before the court. Among them were 1,948 prized messor cephalotes, a species highlighted in the case. The insects were said to be destined for China. Authorities said the ants were part of a wider smuggling pattern involving insects that are often sought abroad as pets and can fetch high prices. The illicit trade has attracted increasing attention from Kenyan authorities and prosecutors.

Judge Irene Gichobi told the court that Zhang was lacking in remorse and described him as “not an entirely honest person.” She said he would be fined Kenya shillings 1 million, equivalent to about $7,700, and ordered to serve one year in jail. The judge added that the jail term would follow a 14-day appeal period. After that, he will be referred to his home country. The court said there was a need for a stiff deterrent sentence in light of the case.

The court also heard that Zhang had initially faced charges of wildlife trafficking without a permit and conspiracy. His lawyer said the conspiracy charge carried a seven-year sentence. That count was later dismissed, after which Zhang entered a guilty plea. The sentence was delivered in Nairobi on Wednesday. According to the evidence, the prosecution linked the case to a wider pattern of ant smuggling cases that have emerged in the region, including another involving a Vietnamese and a Kenyan national.

Ant smuggling made headlines last year when two Belgian teenagers were arrested with nearly 5,000 ants, most of them stored in test tubes, and fined roughly $7,700. The current case was described as part of a lucrative trade that has spread across east Africa and attracted buyers overseas. The insects are mostly destined for China, the United States and Europe, where they are kept as pets and can be worth around US$100 each. Authorities said the trade has negative ecological side effects.

Kenyan Charles Mwangi, 35, is also accused in a related case of selling ants to three of the four people convicted last year. He has pleaded not guilty, and the case is ongoing, according to his lawyer. The evidence places Zhang’s case within a broader investigation into ant trafficking and the movement of live insects out of Kenya. With the sentence now handed down, the court said the punishment was intended to deter rising cases of dealing in large quantities of garden ants.