Kenyan authorities have 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 smuggling from Kenya.
Zhang Kequn was intercepted on Tuesday, March 10, at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport while he was attempting to board a flight out of the country.
Immigration officials had flagged a “stop order” on his passport after he evaded arrest in Kenya last year.
According to the court’s filings, around 2,238 ants, including 1,948 packed in specialised test tubes and another 300 concealed in three rolls of soft tissue papers, were found in the 27-year-old’s luggage.
Authorities believed that Zhang had been in Kenya for the last two weeks. After initial investigations, he revealed the names of three accomplices who supplied him with insects.
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is now investigating his iPhone and MacBook to get to the bottom of the incident.
The case appears to be that of a well-organized trafficking ring. Authorities announced that a similar shipment of ants from Kenya was seized in Bangkok on Tuesday, the same day as Zhang’s arrest.
Smuggling ants 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 allow a glimpse into the social structure of these insects.
In 2025. Four men were fined $7,700 each for attempting to traffic thousands of ecologically valuable ants from Kenya.
