CHINESE NATIONAL SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR IN PRISON FOR SMUGGLING ANTS OUT OF KENYA

A Chinese national has been convicted and fined Ksh 1,000,000 for smuggling ants (Messor cephalotes) through Nairobi’s JKIA. 

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has announced the outcome of an ant smuggling case prosecuted at the JKIA Law Courts under case number CF E052/2026.

Zhang Kuquen, a Chinese national, was found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of Ksh.1,000,000. If he fails to pay, he will serve one year in prison, plus an additional one-year term.

Zhang was arrested last month at Jomo Kenyatta International Airpot (JKIA) with more than 2,200 live garden ants in his luggage. He initially pleaded not guilty to charges including dealing in live wildlife species but ‌later changed his plea to guilty.

A Kenyan man, Charles Mwangi, ⁠was also charged in the case, accused of supplying the ants toZhang.