NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- Two Belgian teenagers were charged Tuesday with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal.
The two Belgians were arrested in Kenya's Nakuru county, which is home to various national parks. The 5,000 ants were found in a guest house where they were staying, and were packed in 2,244 test tubes that had been filled with cotton wool to enable the ants to survive for months.
Drudge Retort Headlines
Zohran Mamdani Shares Vision for New York City after Primary Victory (84 comments)
Bombs Didn't Destroy Nuclear Sites: US intelligence (69 comments)
One in Three Student Loan Borrowers Risk Default (29 comments)
Rachel Maddow's Blistering Takedown of Trump's Young Counterterrorism Pick (29 comments)
Trump Nobel Peace Prize Nomination Withdrawn (26 comments)
UF Student Earned Award for Paper Defending White Supremacy (19 comments)
ICE Has Arrested Only 6% of Known Immigrant Murderers (16 comments)
Trump Rages Through Night Over Leak of Humiliating Iran Flop (15 comments)
McConnell: People Will Get over Medicaid Cuts (14 comments)
WH Senior Aide Stephen Miller Heavily Invested in Palantir (13 comments)