BEIJING: A single mother who bought six pieces of ivory in West Africa and smuggled them back to China has been jailed for 6½ years, state media reported.
The woman, 37, was stopped at Beijing Capital International Airport in December 2013 and the ivory, weighing 14.5kg and worth more than 605,000 yuan was found in her luggage, state radio reported.
Smuggling endangered animals or animal products can lead to a 10-year jail term, or even a life sentence, for serious offences in China.
The woman, whose full name was not given in the report, told a court in Beijing she bought the ivory as souvenirs.
She said she had gone to Ivory Coast five times and had only bought ivory on one trip.
Prosecutors said she had spent 20,000 yuan on an air ticket, but stayed in the African nation for only one day and a night when she bought the ivory.
The woman, who owns a hair salon in China, said she had only stayed briefly as she wanted to check out the business opportunities running bars and restaurants in Ivory Coast.
The ivory smuggled into China. Photo: China National Radio
It was also the first time she had left her daughter for any length of time, she said.
She told the court the ivory was bought from a Chinese person in Ivory Coast and she was unaware it was illegal to bring it back to China.
The pieces of ivory were wrapped in tin foil and prosecutors alleged this was to try to prevent them showing on airport X-ray machines.
China in February announced a one-year ban on imports of ivory carvings, but activists described the move as symbolic as legal imports are minor and most seizures of illegal items are of raw ivory.
Experts have previously said that most illegal ivory is sold in China where products made from the material are seen as status symbols.
