Chinese ‘poacher’ fails to pay 9bn/- fine, jailed 20 years

A CHINESE national, Yu Bo (45), was jailed for 20 years after failing to pay a 9bn/ fine for possessing government trophies worth over 978m/- unlawfully.

The verdict has come at a time when the government has vowed to leave no stone unturned in the effort to curb poaching in the country. Senior Resident Magistrate Devota Kisoka of the Kisutu Resident Magistrates’ Court in Dar es Salaam convicted the Chinese on his own plea of guilty.

She said that she was imposing such severe sentence to serve as a lesson to others who might be tempted to engage in poaching or act as accomplices to the crime.

“The accused person is sentenced to pay 9,781,204,900/-. In default, he should serve 20 years imprisonment,” the magistrate declared after considering the mitigation factors and plea for leniency.

Bo had told the court that it was his first time to be convicted in a criminal case, further saying that he had several dependants. But the prosecution, led by Senior State Attorney Faraja Nchimbi, prayed for a severe sentence “due to the seriousness of the offence.”

Case details had it that the convict entered the country for business purposes on November 26, last year. Shortly after his arrival, he initiated communications with a syndicate of poachers within and outside Tanzania for the purpose of poaching elephants and other animals, including ground pangolins.

In the process, the convict and other poachers who are yet to be arrested managed to collect 81 elephant tusks and two ground pangolin scales, which were eventually hidden at Mwenge in Kinondoni District.

The accused had neither authority nor permit from the Director of Wildlife Division allowing him to possess the said ivory tusks and the ground pangolin scales. On the evening of December 30, last year, Bo loaded the government trophies on a pick-up vehicle.

Together with a variety of wood carvings, Bo then ferried the said trophies to the Dar es Salaam Port with intent to ship them to the People’s Republic of China. On arrival at port’s gate at around 20:30pm, he sought permission to go to one of the ships.

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