Kenyan authorities arrested a Chinese national at Nairobi’s main airport after discovering more than 2,200 live garden ants hidden in his luggage.
The case is linked to the growing trend of insect trafficking from Kenya.
Zhang Kequn was intercepted on Tuesday (March 10) at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport while trying to board a flight out of the country.
Immigration officials had marked an “arrest order” on his passport after he escaped arrest in Kenya last year.
According to court filings, approximately 2,238 ants, including 1,948 packed in specialized test tubes and another 300 hidden in three rolls of soft tissue paper, were found in the 27-year-old’s luggage.
Authorities believed Zhang had been in Kenya for two weeks. After initial investigations, he revealed the names of three accomplices who supplied him with insects.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is currently investigating his iPhone and MacBook to shed light on the incident.
This appears to be a well-organized trafficking network. Authorities said a similar shipment of ants from Kenya was seized in Bangkok on Tuesday, the same day as Zhang’s arrest.
Ant smuggling has become a lucrative but illicit business, with enthusiasts in Europe and Asia paying hefty sums to keep them in transparent containers called formicariums, which provide insight into the insects’ social structure.
In 2025, four men were fined $7,700 each for attempting to traffick thousands of ecologically valuable ants from Kenya.
