Nairobi police nabbed two Belgian teenagers for wildlife piracy. Apparently they were caught with 5,000 ants—not in their pants but packed in test tubes at a guest house where they were staying.
Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, 19, told a judge they were just collecting the queen ants for fun and were unaware that it was prohibited. Two other men were also charged after being caught with 400 ants. Combined, all the ants were valued at 1 million shillings (US$7,700). They're apparently an in-demand exotic pet.
"The Kenya Wildlife Service said the four men were involved in trafficking the ants to markets in Europe and Asia, and that the species included messor cephalotes, a distinctive, large and red-colored harvester ant native to East Africa," reports the Associated Press.
In a statement, the Wildlife Service said these recent arrests signal "a shift in trafficking trends — from iconic large mammals to lesser-known yet ecologically critical species."
Previously:
• Six people arrested for smuggling goose guts hidden under rattlesnakes into the US
• This fellow is the first person to be busted smuggling greenhouse gases into the US
• Man busted at airport smuggling two otters and a prairie dog in his underwear
• Officials cracking down on egg smugglers as retailers exploit falling wholesale prices
• Woman arrested at US border for smuggling 18 crocodile skulls and a single sloth
