Why?
Kenyans missing a market opportunity to propagate and sell pet ants.
And we have several million Indian citizens here in the USA running our computer systems. And ants is a problem?
Was that wrong?
I looked it up. There isn’t much of an explanation here. How many pet owners are interested in complex social behavior. And, not a word about their bite. I’m in Florida and the native green lizard has almost gone extinct because imported lizards hatch earlier and eat their smaller cousins. I miss seeing the green lizards of my youth.
“Exotic pet trade
People steal queen ants from Kenya primarily for the exotic pet trade, as they are highly sought after by collectors who maintain colonies in specialized enclosures known as formicariums. These ants, particularly the giant African harvester ants (Messor cephalotes), are valued for their social behaviors and ecological importance, as they play a crucial role in soil health and biodiversity. The smuggling of these insects is driven by the desire to study their complex social structures and behaviors, which can fetch significant profits in the black market.
The Independent
+4”
WTF? Do they eat them in China as some kind of delicacy or something? They eat rats, why not ants?
He should have smuggled them in his pants. Nobody ever looks there, and he can truthfully say when asked by customs why he is squirming in his chair...
"I have ants in my pants!"
Biological warfare? Good eating?
“Chinese national arrested over attempt to smuggle 2,000 queen ants from Kenya”. He was doing business.
Keep an eye on 'em. They can be very devious buggers.
If the final destination was China, the ants were probably either as food for pets such as spiders, snakes and beetles, or intended to be processed for human use in some manner as an ‘aid to the libido’.
Anyone thinking of the mysterious ballon invasions that our democrat crap national security apperatiusers .
Do ants need parachutes?
“ant-trafficking network” ping.
Counting ants is hard.
We have fire ants and don’t need any more ants of any kind!
Since its the Chinese they probably think its boner medicine
I've always dreamed of having ants as pets........
I remember that in elementary school, a student who’s dad had been building tracking dishes in Africa brought back some chocolate covered ants. He talked about his work, and shared out the ants, tasted like spicy chocolate.