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Yang
Feng Glan, centre, is escorted by police from Kisutu Resident's Magistrate
Court in Dar es Salam
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Yang Feng Glan, kingpin between east
African poaching syndicates and Chinese buyers, accused in Tanzania of
smuggling ivory worth £1.62m
A Chinese woman dubbed
the “ivory queen” for her alleged leadership of one of Africa’s biggest ivory
smuggling rings has been captured and charged. Yang Feng Glan is accused
of smuggling 706 elephant tusks worth £1.62m from Tanzania to the Far East. The
Elephant Action League, a US-based campaign group, described her as “the most
important ivory trafficker ever arrested in the country”.
The
66-year-old is said to have been a crucial link between east African poaching
syndicates and buyers in China, where ivory is prized for ornamental use, for
over 14 years. Tanzania’s national and transnational serious crimes
investigation unit had been tracking Glan for more than a year, according to
the Elephant Action League.
The Guardian UK report continues:
“She
recently disappeared from Tanzania, moving to Uganda, but returned one week
ago, when the task force swiftly moved and arrested her,” the league said.
“After confessing to many of her crimes she has been taken to the high court of
Dar es Salaam facing a maximum sentence of 20 to 30 years imprisonment.”
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Ivory
is prized for ornamental use in China. The Elephant Action League described
Yang Feng Glan as ‘the most important ivory trafficker ever arrested’ in
Tanzania. Image source: The China Africa Project
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On
Wednesday Glan appeared at the Kisutu magistrates court, along with Tanzanians
Salvius Matembo and Manase Philemon, in the city of Dar es Salaam. She was
charged with smuggling ivory between 2000 and 2014, although some reports
suggested she may have been active since the 1980s. Glan did not enter a plea
and was remanded in custody to await a further hearing.
Tanzania’s
elephant population is one of Africa’s biggest but has been hit hard by the
illegal ivory trade. In June, a government census revealed it had lost a
“catastrophic” 60% of its elephants in five years. The data showed that between
2009 and 2014, the number dropped from 109,051 to 43,330.
The
government has been heavily criticised for its inability to stop the flow and
for turning a blind eye to so-called kingpins linked to the large and
influential Chinese community in the country. It is extremely unusual for an
ivory kingpin, especially a Chinese national, to appear in court.
The
Elephant Action League said Glan is originally from Beijing and owns several
properties and many cars. She learned Swahili and moved to Tanzania in 1975 as
a translator when China was building a railway.
“According
to the first information collected by the task force, she has been trafficking
ivory since at least 2006, working with the most high-ranking poachers in the
country and in the region. She is connected to various companies abroad, all
Chinese-owned, and circulates in the upper echelons of Chinese citizens living
and working in Tanzania.”
She
is the vice-president and secretary-general of the Tanzania China-Africa
business council, it added, and owns the biggest Chinese restaurant at Dar es
Salaam station.
Andrea
Crosta, co-founder of the Elephant Action League and WildLeaks, said: “It’s the
news that we have all been waiting for, for years. Finally, a high-profile
Chinese trafficker is in jail. Hopefully, she can lead us to other major
traffickers and corrupt government officials. We must put an end to the time of
the untouchables if we want to save the elephants.
“Everyone
she has been dealing with will now become a target for law enforcement,” Crosta
added.
Yang’s
court appearance came just a week after another Chinese woman, Li Ling Ling,
was charged by the same court along with four Tanzanians with aiding the
smuggling of ivory to Switzerland.
Last December Kenyan
national Feisal Ali Mohammed, a suspected organized crime boss alleged to be a
leading figure in the illegal ivory trade, was arrested by Interpol agents in
Tanzania.
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