Jail of Ivory Queen is milestone for Tanzania

Prisoning of Chinese national Ivory Queen along with two of her kingpins seems to be a turning point in Tanzania for all the efforts of the government in combating poaching and protecting endangered elephants.

The sentencing of Yang Feng Glan for 15 years jail term was welcomed by global community as it is a severe blow to the tusk trafficking network in the country and overseas.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang supported sentencing of 69-year-old nationals and said the country supports Tanzania’s investigation and handling of the case.

Yang was arrested in 2015 along with Manase Philemon and Salivius Matembo. She was charged with trafficking more than 850 ivory pieces worth of about $5.6 million in international market.

She has been ordered to pay a fine of double the amount that has been trafficked by her and failing to abide will lead an additional two years of jail term for her.

Yang had earlier said in an interview that in the 1970s she moved to Tanzania from Beijing and initially worked as a translator for the China-funded Tanzania-Zambia Railway project after learning Swahili language.

WWF country director Amani Ngusaru said, “This long awaited verdict signals a renewed impetus by the Tanzanian authorities to tackle head-on the poaching of elephants and ending the illegal trade in ivory.”

In recent years China too has cracked down on the trafficking of elephant tusks. The country has completely banned trade of all ivory products.