A Step in the Right Direction on the Poaching Front

[Wheels]

https://www.theepochtimes.com/tanza...-to-15-years-for-smuggling-tusks_2806981.html

Chinese businesswoman Yang Feng Glan, dubbed the "Ivory Queen," sits inside the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Feb. 19, 2019. (Emmanuel Herman/Reuters)
Tanzania Sentences Chinese Businesswoman to 15 Years for Smuggling Tusks
BY REUTERS
February 19, 2019 Updated: February 19, 2019
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DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania—A Tanzanian court sentenced a prominent Chinese businesswoman dubbed the “Ivory Queen” to 15 years in prison on Feb. 19 for smuggling the tusks of more than 350 elephants to Asia—a big victory in the battle to stamp out poaching in Africa.

Yang Feng Glan had been charged in October 2015 along with two Tanzanian men with smuggling 860 pieces of ivory between 2000 and 2004 worth 13 billion shillings ($5.6 million). She denied the charges.

Police sources said Yang, 69, had lived in Tanzania since the 1970s and was secretary-general of the Tanzania China-Africa Business Council. A Swahili-speaker, she also owns a popular Chinese restaurant in Dar es Salaam.

Kisutu Court Magistrate Huruma Shaidi sentenced Yang, Salivius Matembo and Manase Philemon to 15 years in prison on convictions of leading an organized criminal gang.

Shaidi also ordered them to either pay twice the market value of the elephant tusks or face another two years in prison.

In court documents, prosecutors said Glan “intentionally did organize, manage and finance a criminal racket by collecting, transporting or exporting and selling government trophies” weighing a total of 2.1 tons.

Demand for ivory from Asian countries such as China and Vietnam, where it is turned into jewels and ornaments, has led to a surge in poaching across Africa.

Tanzania’s elephant population shrank from 110,000 in 2009 to little more than 43,000 in 2014, according to a 2015 census, with conservation groups blaming “industrial-scale” poaching.

In March 2016, Tanzania sentenced two Chinese men to 35 years each in jail for ivory smuggling, while in December 2015 another court sentenced four Chinese men to 20 years in jail each after they were convicted of smuggling rhino horns.

By Fumbuka Ng’wanakilala

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Hopefully she'll see the inside of the prison walls yet.

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Hopefully she'll see the inside of the prison walls yet.

+1

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Thanks for sharing Wheels.

 

[PARA45]

That sentence should have been for twice as long!!!! Can't recover those dead elephants & rhinos.

 

[sambarhunter]

Yes its the illegal ivory trade that is decimating ele herds and NOT the game hunting side of it.

 

[Von S.]

So why not shoot her?.....or hang her?

 

[jacques smith]

Thanks wheels,
It does seem a step in the right direction but have any of the convictions from 2015 and 2016 been actually applied or does their stature enable them to weasel away?

 

[Wheels]

Thanks wheels,
It does seem a step in the right direction but have any of the convictions from 2015 and 2016 been actually applied or does their stature enable them to weasel away?

I am still a cynic. It is a step in the right direction but in no way a conclusion. My guess is she was the sacrificial lamb. The big boys are still free.

It does seem that Tanzania is trying to slow the poaching of elephants. This case was eye candy to the world.

 

[CAustin]

I am still a cynic. It is a step in the right direction but in no way a conclusion. My guess is she was the sacrificial lamb. The big boys are still free.

It does seem that Tanzania is trying to slow the poaching of elephants. This case was eye candy to the world.

Thanks for sharing sir. Wonder if she might give up the big boys or if they will somehow rescue her from 15 years in a cell. I suspect the cell will be very unpleasant in that country.

 

[johnnyblues]

Let her give up the big players and reduce her sentence a year!

 

[Wheels]

Thanks for sharing sir. Wonder if she might give up the big boys or if they will somehow rescue her from 15 years in a cell. I suspect the cell will be very unpleasant in that country.

Doubt anyone higher will be pulled in. She was originally arrested in 2015 if I remember correct. It probably would have already happened if it was going to.

Hope there is no reduction in 15 years. It will depend on how well she is connected in China. If China does a big $ project in Tanzania, her release may be part of the deal.

 

[K-man]

It is a good start but unfortunately there are about 1 million replacements waiting to step in. The only way to end this is to dry up the demand, but there are centuries of history to be changed first. This is at least good news!!

 

[flatwater bill]

Even a year in prison would help........make others think twice........................but I doubt that there is any law violation in Tanzania that an envelope full of Ben Franklins would not fix....................FWB

 

[Rule 303]

It is a small step, but it is a start and if she see's the inside of a cell for any period then Tanzania is to be commended.

 

[Pondoro]

What can you expect of Tanzania, totally corrupt from top to bottom..