Smugglers making money from praying mantises, report reveals

An ongoing ants smuggling case has revealed that other insects are also finding their way to the international markets.

An expert report shows that praying mantises are being illegally whisked away from the country for food or “beauty keeping”.

The report was submitted to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) magistrate Njeri Thuku regarding the Sh1.3 million ant smuggling saga.

Last week, two 18-year-old Belgian teens, Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, a Vietnamese Nguyen Duy Hung and 26-year-old Kenyan, Denis Ng’ang’a, admitted to smuggling at least 5,000 ant queens.

• .

  Keep Reading

• 
  Residents decry losses after hippos damage their farms
• 
  As Pope Francis is laid to rest today, let's keep his lessons
• 
  Two Belgian teens, Vietnamese and Kenyan admit smuggling ants worth Sh1.2m
• 
  Stray leopard attacks four men in West Pokot village

The report by the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) indicates that smuggling ants and praying mantis has been going on for over six years.

“The commonly trafficked species include; praying mantis, garden harvester ants and other live ants species. In all the incidences, the consignments were destined to jurisdictions outside Kenya but misdeclared,” the report reads.

Live insects are usually stashed in syringes but labeled as wooden carvings or toys, and recently test tubes. The KWS further says the tubes are  manufactured in China and are purposely being made in such a way that scanners cannot detect anything inside.

“These advanced tubes can sustain the ants for up to two months but also obscure visibility, making it difficult for scanning devices such as x-ray machines to detect them.”

KWS indicated that initially, the headache was to keep elephants and rhinos off poachers. However, the agency said the ants case was an indicator of how smugglers and foreigners are mouth watering for the smallest creatures from the country.

“Although ants are often overlooked, the species play a vital role to the environment by significantly contributing to soil health, seed dispersal, soil aeration, and the delicate balance of biodiversity. The ants species messor cephalotes involved in this case are primarily kept as exotic pets by enthusiasts,” the report said.

According to KWS, collectors keep the ants in formicarium, an enclosure designed to mimic their natural habitat, while in some regions such as China and Vietnam, they are eaten or used as a flavouring agent.

The court heard that sellers in Kenya charge Sh50 for each live ant harvested, while brokers resell the insects to foreigners at Sh150.

Once out of the country, KWS said, an ant is fetching as high as Sh14,700. The queen is gold in the game.

On the other hand, a praying mantis is sold at as high as Sh1,344.

KWS is vouching for a harsh sentence against the four.

“Exotic species that are trafficked can pose a biosecurity risk because they can potentially establish themselves in the wild and become pests. They can also carry seeds, parasites, and viruses which, if released to the environment, would have negative impacts on native ecosystem,” the report said.

Lornoy, Lodewijckx, Hung and Ng’ang’a will be sentenced on May 7.