27yo caught with 2238 ants at airport. Yes, ants, you read that right

Talk about a truly bizarre bust! A man was arrested at Nairobi’s main airport this week with over 2,200 live garden ants stashed in his luggage. In an interesting twist, this isn’t a one-off; insect smuggling in Kenya is instead a growing issue.

Per Reuters, authorities caught 27-year-old Chinese national Zhang Kequn at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Tuesday as he was trying to leave the country. Immigration officials had actually flagged a “stop order” on Zhang’s passport because he’d managed to evade arrest in Kenya just last year. 

Investigators searching Zhang’s luggage recovered a whopping 2,238 ants, with 1,948 of them carefully packed away in individual test tubes. The rest were found bundled up in three rolls of soft tissue paper. Who even thinks of doing this?

Also, I can’t fathom the dedication needed to pack each ant individually

It turns out there’s a whole world of “ant aficionados” who are willing to shell out serious cash to keep ant colonies. They house these fascinating creatures in large, transparent enclosures called formicariums, which offer a peek into the ants’ incredibly complex social structures and behaviors. It’s a pretty unique hobby, but the demand for these tiny workers has unfortunately spurred this kind of illicit trade.

There’s been a noticeable rise in ant smuggling cases in Kenya, and this latest arrest really underscores a broader, troubling trend. Just last year, four men faced hefty fines of $7,700 each for trying to traffic thousands of ants, including species that are incredibly valuable to Kenya’s delicate ecosystem. Experts say these cases signal a significant shift in biopiracy, moving away from more traditional, high-profile trophies like elephant ivory.

What’s even more concerning is the hint of a much larger operation at play here. Zhang, who had apparently been in Kenya for two weeks, mentioned three accomplices who supplied him with the ants. 

Additionally, the Kenya Wildlife Service confirmed that a similar consignment of ants, also originating from Kenya, was seized in Bangkok on Tuesday. This definitely suggests the existence of a widespread and organized ant-smuggling network, which is a big deal for conservation efforts.

The Kenya Wildlife Service told the court that they need more time to wrap up their investigations. They’re planning to dig into an iPhone and a MacBook recovered from Zhang, hoping to uncover more details about this intricate smuggling ring. 

I never really thought I would come across a story about Ant smuggling, but here we are. Then again, it might be better than being caught smuggling yourself across borders, or smuggling your children to another continent and then abandoning them because you fear the ‘end of days.’