“The Queen of Ivory” Arrested in Tanzania
A woman who has been nicknamed “the queen of ivory” has been arrested by a special task force in Tanzania, with authorities saying she is the most important ivory trafficker to ever have been captured in the country.
An ivory elephant. Image Credit: Theo (Flickr)
The woman – a Chinese national named Yang Feng Glan, aged 66, is the most notorious ivory tracker to have ever been captured, and has been followed by the Task Force for over a year.
As Elephant League reports, she recently disappeared from Tanzania and moved to Uganda, but when she returned to Tanzania last week the Task Force moved in on her quickly and she was arrested.
She has since confessed to trafficking a huge amount of ivory over a number of years, and now faces the high court in Dar es Salaam where it is thought she will receive 20 – 30 years behind bars.
Read more here.
Ivory trafficking is also a huge issue in Thailand, and despite a great deal of ivory being taken from Thai elephants, a significant amount is also smuggled in from Africa. Earlier this year a new law was introduced which imposes restrictions on ivory ownership.
In August, the Thai government destroyed over two tonnes of illegal ivory in a ceremony led by the Prime Minister, who said: “This is to show the Thai government’s strong determination to oppose ivory trafficking and that Thailand will comply with international rules.”
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