Chinese national Zhang Kequn stands outside the courtroom before his sentencing, after he pleaded guilty to charges of dealing with wildlife species without a permit and illegal possession of garden ants, on the day he was fined U.S. dollars 7,746 and a one year jail term, at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) Law Courts, in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 15, 2026. Monicah Mwangi/Reuters
NAIROBI, April 15—A Kenyan court on Wednesday ordered a Chinese man to pay a fine of 1 million shillings ($7,746) and gave him a 12-month jail term for trying to smuggle live ants out of the country.
The magistrate in the case said a stiff sentence was needed as a deterrent given a spate of cases in Kenya of ant-trafficking.
