Court charges 4 'ant smugglers'

LONDON: Four men, including two Belgian teenagers, pleaded guilty in a Kenyan court this week on charges of trafficking thousands of live ants, which Kenyan authorities said they had intended to sell as pets.

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The Belgians, David Lornoy and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 19, were found with the insects this month at a guesthouse near Lake Naivasha, one of several popular nature areas in Kenya. They had thousands of live queen ants, packed in syringes and test tubes designed to keep the insects alive for months, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service.

The court said the ants were worth the equivalent of about US$7,000 (233,400 baht) and, citing intelligence reports, said they had been destined for exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia.