{"id":51198,"date":"2022-11-01T17:14:43","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T00:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=51198"},"modified":"2022-11-01T17:14:43","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T00:14:43","slug":"two-congo-men-were-sentenced-to-prison-for-trafficking-in-elephant-ivory-and-rhino-horns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=51198","title":{"rendered":"Two Congo Men Were Sentenced to Prison for Trafficking in Elephant Ivory and Rhino Horns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WASHINGTON<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"A federal judge sentenced Herdade Lokua, 34, and Jospin Mujangi, 32, of Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, to prison for trafficking wildlife products from the Congo to Seattle, officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lokua was sentenced to 20 \u00a0months in prison, and Mujangi was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Both men had pleaded guilty to conspiracy and Lacey Act charges on July 13.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The court determined that Lokua was the organizer of a trafficking operation involving more than five other co-conspirators whose goal was to ship a cargo container full of elephant ivory, white rhinoceros horn, and pangolin scales to Seattle. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Mujangi helped package the wildlife products. He handled the financial details to process the payment through a Chinese bank and back to the Congo.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWildlife trafficking is decimating many species worldwide and has broader impacts to a country\u2019s economic development and security,\u201d said Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations\u00a0(HSI) operations in the Pacific Northwest.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Beginning in November 2019, they agreed to smuggle the wildlife products at issue to the U.S., according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n

They worked with a middleman to negotiate the sales and coordinate imports to Seattle. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Between August and September 2020, Lokua and Mujangi made several small sales to build trust with the buyers. <\/span><\/p>\n

They sent three packages containing approximately 49 pounds of ivory from Kinshasa. <\/span><\/p>\n

They arranged for the ivory to be cut into smaller pieces and painted black; the packages were then falsely labeled as containing wood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lokua and Mujangi acknowledged that in June 2021, they sent nearly five pounds of rhinoceros horn to Seattle using a similar scheme. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Lokua discussed sending two tons of ivory and one ton of pangolin scales concealed in a shipping container. He stated that payment would have to be routed through a bank account in China before they could access the cash in Kinshasa.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lokua and Mujangi admitted that they traveled to Seattle on Nov. 2, 2021, to meet with prospective buyers who were undercover federal agents. <\/span><\/p>\n

After negotiating the details for 4,900kg of ivory, 3kg of rhinoceros horn, and 1,500kg of pangolin scales worth $3.5 million, agents arrested both men in Edmonds, Washington.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The investigation was part of \u201cOperation Kuluna,\u201d an international operation conducted between HSI Seattle, the government of the Congo and the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa. <\/span><\/p>\n

After the arrests, the task force in the Congo acted on information provided by HSI Seattle to seize 2,067 pounds of ivory and 75 pounds of pangolin scales in Kinshasa worth over $1 million, all contraband related to wildlife trafficking.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lacey Act is the nation\u2019s oldest wildlife trafficking statute and prohibits, among other things, falsely labeling shipments containing wildlife. <\/span><\/p>\n

The United States, Congo, and approximately 181 other countries are signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). CITES is an international treaty restricting trade in species that may be threatened with extinction. <\/span><\/p>\n

CITES has permit requirements for protected wildlife, and the indictment alleges that the defendants did not obtain any necessary papers or declarations from the Congo or the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

The CITES treaty has listed the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum<\/em>) as a protected species since 1975 and the African elephant (Loxodanta africana<\/em>) since 1977. <\/span><\/p>\n

All species of pangolin were added to the CITES appendix with the greatest level of protection in 2017. All three mammals are threatened by poaching and habitat loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

HSI Seattle conducted the investigation with assistance from IRS Criminal Investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Senior Trial Attorneys Patrick M. Duggan and Ryan C. Connors of the Environmental Crimes Section.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON A federal judge sentenced Herdade Lokua, 34, and Jospin Mujangi, 32, of Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, to prison for trafficking wildlife products from the Congo to Seattle, officials stated….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nTwo Congo Men Were Sentenced to Prison for Trafficking in Elephant Ivory and Rhino Horns<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"WASHINGTON A federal judge sentenced Herdade Lokua, 34, and Jospin Mujangi, 32, of Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, to prison for trafficking\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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