NAIROBI — A Kenyan court in Nairobi sentenced Zhang Kequn to 12 months in jail and fined him 1 million Kenyan shillings after he pleaded guilty to possessing wildlife without a license. Zhang had been arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi while carrying more than 2,200 live garden ants in his luggage.

Zhang and Charles Mwangi were arrested on March 10 in Nairobi after authorities found them in possession of 1,948 garden ants stored in specialized tubes and 300 ants in tissue rolls. The two were charged together with wildlife possession offenses.

Zhang initially pleaded not guilty to charges including dealing in live wildlife species before changing his plea. Mwangi pleaded not guilty to wildlife possession charges and was released on bail.

Prosecutors said Zhang paid 60,000 Kenyan shillings for an initial batch of 600 ants and 70,000 Kenyan shillings for another batch of 700 ants. They said the suspects did not have the permits required under Kenya's wildlife conservation laws to handle or trade such species.

Zhang's lawyer said he would appeal the sentence. Kenya has previously taken action in similar cases: authorities fined Belgian teenagers who were found in possession of queen ants, and last year four men were each fined 1 million Kenyan shillings for trying to traffic thousands of ants.

Queen ants are used as delicacies and kept as pets in Europe and Asia. Ant enthusiasts in China use large transparent vessels known as formicariums to maintain ant colonies for studying their social structures and behaviors.