Grab mentality

Smugglers won’t get away with slipping out even the tiniest contraband.

Two Belgian teenagers, a Vietnamese man, and a Kenyan male were arrested last month in Nakuru County, Kenya for attempting to smuggle out of the country thousands of live ants.

David Lornoy and Seppe Lodewijckx, both 18, of Belgium, were carrying 5,000 queen ants packed in 2,244 tubes, while Duh Hung Nguyen and Dennis Nganga were found with ants hidden in 140 syringes packed with cotton wool in two containers, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports, citing the charge sheet against the four wildlife smugglers.

All four pleaded guilty to possession of the ants, which is illegal in the African country. A Kenyan court sentenced them on 7 May to a fine of one million shillings ($7,740), or a year in prison if they failed to pay, according to AFP.

The Belgians claimed the ants were to be kept as pets, but the suspicion was the ants were to be sold to collectors and enthusiasts.

In Japan, three Chinese men were reported to the police by a hotel worker in Amami City on 6 May after rustling sounds were heard coming from their suitcases.

Police went to the hotel the following day and asked the men to open their luggage.

Inside three bags, police found 95 kilograms of spiral-shelled, protected hermit crabs, while another set of three suitcases were found to contain 65 kilograms of the crabs, police said.

The three men were arrested and are being investigated to learn if they were going to sell the crustaceans, keep them as pets, or eat them, AFP reports.