Man gets life sentence for smuggling ivory tusks to China

GUANGZHOU -- A court in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Tuesday sentenced a man named Chen Chengzong to life imprisonment for his role in smuggling thousands of ivory tusks to China.

From July 2013 to Aug 2018, Chen Chengzong, his father Chen Jiancheng, and 16 other accomplices purchased ivory tusks from Nigeria and smuggled them into China for sale, according to the Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou.

The court said the criminals deliberately concealed the ivory tusks in containers of timbers to evade customs inspections.

The smuggled ivory tusks, weighing a total of 20 tonnes, were valued at over 1.02 billion yuan (about $156 million). Chinese customs seized 4,661 tusks with a value of 680 million yuan, the court said.

Chen Chengzong also illegally bought and sold rhino horns and ivory products in China. He illegally crossed the border 21 times using fake passports, according to the court.

Chen Jiancheng is still at large.