Yang Fenglan, 69, The ‘Ivory Queen’ and two Tanzanian men were sentenced to 15 years on February 19, 2019.
What’s more, Fenglan’s property will be repossessed.
The trial was held at Tanzanian court in Dar es Salaam. Fenglan has lived and worked in Tanzania since the '70s and is the former vice-president of the China-Africa Business Council of Tanzania. “Ivory Queen’ was found guilty of running one of Africa’s largest ivory-smuggling rings. They were able to transfer 860 tusks worth £1.9 million between 2000 and 2014 from Africa to Asia.
The police investigated for an entire year, before finally arresting Fenglan, according to BBC News.
This happened in 2015 after a high-speed car chase.
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Fenglan was also running a Chinese restaurant and was an owner of an investment company in Dar es Salaam.
According to the data provided by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) – the population of African elephants has decreased by 110,000 in the last ten years. There are about 415,000 elephants in Africa at the moment.
That is why Ivory Queen’s arrest has a crucial role against the illegal ivory trade environmentalists say.
Poaching has led to reducing the levels of trade with China and East Asia by 20 percent. In those countries, ivory is used to make jewelry and ornaments.
Krissie Clark – the executive director of a nonprofit organization that fights crime against wildlife called PAMS Foundation, wrote the following on the foundation’s Facebook page:
The government is taking wildlife trafficking very seriously. An attack on Tanzania’s wildlife is thus seen as an attack on Tanzania.
None of this would've been possible were it not for the political will of the President, John Magufuli. And his drive to stop wildlife crime and corruption.
Tourism is a significant income generator for the country, thus it's essential that Tanzania’s multi-agency intelligence-led enforcement approach persists to make sure this country’s magnificent elephants can continue to roam freely. Congratulations Tanzania.
After the establishment of the multi-agency task force, severe measures have been taken to restrict poaching in Tanzania.
As a consequence, several poaching rings have been destroyed in the last four years. The best part is that wildlife smugglers have been given long prison sentences.
Reference: I Heart Intelligence
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