A Tanzanian court has sentenced a prominent Chinese businesswoman dubbed the “Ivory Queen” to 15 years in prison for smuggling the tusks of more than 350 elephants to Asia.
In Tanzania, the 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.
Yang Feng Glan had been charged in October 2015, along with two Tanzanian men, with smuggling 860 pieces of ivory worth $5.6 million between 2000 and 2004 . She denied the charges.
Police say Yang 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.
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.
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