Four smugglers caught trying to transport thousands of live ants out of Kenya for sale on exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia will be sentenced for trafficking wildlife in a case being hailed as a milestone by the Kenya Wildlife Service. - REUTERS
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00:00Four ant smugglers will be sentenced after pleading guilty to charges of illegal possession
00:06and trafficking of live wildlife.
00:09The group called themselves the Ant Gang, according to Prosecutor Alan Mulama.
00:13A whole group that refers to itself as the Ant Gang.
00:17Two Belgians, a Vietnamese and a Kenyan, appeared at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
00:23Court on Tuesday.
00:24They were caught trying to transport thousands of live ants out of Kenya.
00:29They sell on exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia.
00:33Authorities had intercepted live queen ants, the Kenya Wildlife Service, or KWS, said.
00:39The sought-after Mesocephalotes species, also known as the giant African harvester ant, was among them.
00:47The KWS added that the modified tubes were designed to keep the ants for up to two months.
00:53The street value of the insects is $7,800, according to a court document seen by Reuters.
01:01While some people may see ants as a nuisance, some insect lovers enjoy watching them build
01:06complex colonies in transparent cases.
01:09One source in the ant trade said suppliers needed a license from the KWS and a health certificate
01:15in order to export Mesocephalotes.
01:19The source said the species, native to Kenya, was much in demand and hard to obtain.
01:24The court adjourned the case until April 23rd.