Author: Merrit Kennedy / Source: NPR.org
A convicted Chinese trafficker known as the “ivory queen” has been sentenced to 15 years in jail by a Tanzanian court.
Yang Fenglan, who has lived in Tanzania on and off for decades and operated a Chinese restaurant, was found guilty of working with two Tanzanian men to smuggle more than 800 pieces of ivory between 2000 and 2004, as Reuters reported.
Yang and the men – Salivius Matembo and Manase Philemon – were convicted of “leading an organised criminal gang,” according to the wire service.
They have denied the accusations.She was initially arrested in 2015, following what the BBC termed a “high speed car chase” with Tanzanian authorities.
Investigators say Yang “was a key link between poachers in East Africa and buyers in China for more than a decade,” the broadcaster reported.
China has been a major driver of demand of ivory, which has been disastrous for Africa’s elephants. A recent major census of the African elephant population found that it decreased by nearly a…
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