Chinese ivory smuggler gets record sentence after Kenya trial

Nairobi (AFP) - 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 Yong Jian, 40, was ordered to pay 20 million shillings (170,500 euros, 233,000 dollars) or else go to jail for seven years.

He was arrested last week carrying an ivory tusk weighing 3.4 kilogrammes (7.5 pounds) in a suitcase while in transit from Mozambique to China via Nairobi, and pleaded guily to 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 told AFP, saying stricter sentences will make the "killing of wildlife a high cost business".

"It's a remarkable precedent," he said, explaining that the fact that smugglers were previously punished with "a slap on the wrist" was demoralising for park rangers who are frequently outnumbered and outgunned by organised 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 the sentence, magistrate William Oketch noted that the accused pleaded 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 was delivered, another Chinese man was arrested at Nairobi airport in possession of three ivory necklaces, two ivory bracelets, ten pendants and two rectangular blocks of ivory.

The passenger was in transit from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Guangzhou when he was arrested, and claimed he bought the items innocently, airport police detective Joseph Ngisa said.

Small fines a thing of the past

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 ivory trade, estimated to be worth up to $10 billion (seven billion euros) a year, continues to be fuelled by demand in Asia and the Middle East.

Ivory is sought after for jewellery and decorative objects, while Asian consumers continue to buy smuggled rhino horn -- which is composed of keratin, the same material as human fingernails -- believing that 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 jail 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 (340 euros, 465 dollars), and a possible jail term of up to 10 years.

Some smugglers caught in Kenya with a haul of ivory were even fined less than a dollar apiece.

Africa's elephant population is estimated at 500,000 animals, 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 to Kenya, which accounts for 12.5 percent of the country's revenue and 11 percent of jobs.