Chinese ivory smuggler gets record sentence in Kenya

A court in Kenya on Tuesday slapped a record sentence on a Chinese ivory smuggler, the first person to be convicted under tough new laws designed to stem a surge in poaching.

Tang Yongjian, 40, was ordered to pay 20 million shillings (US$233,000) or else go to prison for seven years. He was arrested last week carrying an ivory tusk weighing 3.4 kilograms in a suitcase while in transit from Mozambique to China via Nairobi.

He admitted the charges. He has 14 days to appeal the sentence.

A spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service, which manages the country's celebrated national parks, said the ruling would give a much-needed boost to wildlife protection efforts.

"It's a landmark ruling that sets a precedent for those involved in smuggling," Paul Udoto said.

He added that the stricter sentences will make the "killing of wildlife a high-cost business."

"It's a remarkable precedent," he said.

Previously, smugglers were punished with "a slap on the wrist," demoralizing for park rangers who are frequently outnumbered and outgunned by organized and well-paid poaching gangs. "It's very motivating for our rangers" to see poachers "lose a lot of money and spend long terms in Kenyan prisons," he said.

Delivering sentence, magistrate William Oketch noted that the accused had pled guilty and expressed remorse, but insisted that "he cannot claim ignorance since the ivory trade is a major cause of concern internationally."

Hours before the sentence, another Chinese man was arrested at Nairobi airport in possession of three ivory necklaces, two ivory bracelets, 10 pendants and two rectangular blocks of ivory.

The passenger was in transit from the Democratic Republic of Congo to China's southern city of Guangzhou when he was arrested, and claimed that he had bought the items innocently, according to airport police detective Joseph Ngisa.

Poaching has risen sharply in Africa in recent years, with rhinos and elephants particularly hard-hit.

Ivory trading was banned in 1989 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, an international agreement between governments, but the illegal business, estimated to be worth up to US$10 billion a year, continues to be fueled by demand in Asia and the Middle East.

Ivory is sought after for jewelry and decorative objects, while Asian consumers continue to buy smuggled rhino horn — which is composed of keratin, the same material as human fingernails — believing it has powerful healing properties.

Under the new Kenyan law, which came into force a month ago, dealing in wildlife trophies carries a minimum fine of a million shillings or a minimum prison sentence of five years, or both.

The most serious wildlife crimes — the killing of endangered animals — now carry penalties of life imprisonment, as well as fines of up to 20 million Kenyan shillings.

Previously, punishment for the most serious wildlife crimes was capped at a maximum fine of 40,000 Kenyan shillings, and a possible prison term of up to 10 years.

Some smugglers caught in Kenya with a haul of ivory have been fined less than a dollar.

In 2012, 384 elephants were poached in Kenya, up from 289 the previous year.

Poaching in the country remained high in 2013.

Africa's elephant population is estimated at 500,000, compared with 1.2 million in 1980 and 10 million in 1900, and they are listed as vulnerable.

Safari tours are a key draw for tourism in Kenya, a sector that accounts for 12.5 percent of the country's revenue and 11 percent of its jobs.