China jails ivory smuggling ringleaders for life in landmark case
- 17 people sentenced for moving millions of dollars in tusks from West Africa as part of the biggest illicit network of its kind in China
- Life terms show authorities are coming down hard on illegal trade, campaigner says
Seventeen people have been jailed – including two for life – for running China’s biggest ivory smuggling ring, moving millions of dollars of tusks from West Africa into the mainland’s vast domestic market.
Demand for ivory carvings and jewellery among China’s expanding middle class led to a poaching crisis across Africa, and although a 2018 ban on ivory trade in China has improved the situation, a vast black market still exists.
A court in the southern city of Guangzhou on Tuesday handed long prison terms to 17 people involved in smuggling over 20 tonnes of ivory worth more than 1 billion yuan (US$156 million).
The illicit haul was brought from Nigeria and other unnamed countries and shipped to China through Singapore and South Korea, court documents published by the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court revealed.
The document described the case as the “biggest ivory smuggling racket” since the founding of the People’s Republic of China 70 years ago.
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Chinese officials show off haul of smuggled ivory seized in Guangxi province
Two men identified as “ringleaders” – Chen Chengzong and Lin Zhiyong – were jailed for life and stripped of their property, in what activists say is one of the toughest sentences to date for ivory smuggling.
