NAIROBI: A Kenyan court fined four people, including two French youth, more than$ 7, 000 for attempting to bring tons of life bees out of the state. After the four were accused of “bio-piracy,” the Kenyan Wildlife Service ( KWS ) raised the issue of the case. All three Belgian men, Duh Hung Nguyen of Vietnam, and Dennis Nganga of Kenya, David Lornoy and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 18, admitted to having the termites, but denied trying to customers them. In Nakuru County, which is located about 160 kilometers ( 100 miles ) from the capital Nairobi, Loroni and Lodewijckx were detained in possession of 5, 000 queen ants that had been packed in 2, 244 tubes. According to a charge strip seen by AFP, Duh and Nganga were discovered with ants stored in 140 needles packed with cotton wool and two vessels. Although the two circumstances were distinct, all four were tried separately. According to the punishment report, Loroy was described as an “ant fan” who maintained provinces at home in Belgium and was a member of a Facebook group called” Ants and Ant Keeping.” He claimed to not be aware that carrying the bees was against the law. The value of the bees that the Belgians had taken was estimated at one million pounds (7, 740 ). The court case claims that the rare Messor cephalotes species, which has one queen ant that currently sells for at least$ 99, was included in the haul. Possession of any wildlife specimen or trophy without a permit is a crime in Kenya, with suspects typically facing fines of up to$ 10,000 and five years or more in prison. In the end, the court sentenced each of the four to a one-million shilling ($ 7, 740 ) fine or a year in prison for breaking the law. The court alleged that Lornoy and Seppe “do never come across as usual thieves” and were ignorant of the law. However, it claimed that the situation reflected a storyline that “has been played out before in decades gone by… of Africa having tools that the West and now the East have plagiarized.” The KWS claimed that their behavior constitutes “bio-piracy” as well as a “wildlife violence.” The suspects “intended to bring the bees to high-value exotic pet areas in Europe and Asia, where demand for unique mosquito species is rising,” according to a statement from the offenders.
