Two people from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been arrested and indicted in the United States for allegedly trafficking elephant ivory and white rhinoceros horn from Africa.
“23-year-old Herdade Lokua and 31-year-old Jospin Mujangi of the Democratic Republic of Congo were arrested on November 3 outside of Seattle, Washington,” the department said in a statement.
On November 4, a federal grand jury indicted them for conspiracy, money laundering, smuggling and legal violations for the trafficking, according to the statement.
The 11-count indictment alleges that Lokua and Mujangi worked with a middleman to smuggle a total of 49 pounds of ivory and five pounds of rhinoceros horn into the United States.
A buyer paid the defendants 14,500 U.S. dollars for the ivory and 18,000 U.S. dollars for the horn, according to the department.
According to the indictment, Lokua and Mujangi also sold 55 pounds of pangolin scales to a U.S. buyer but ultimately did not ship them.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum of 20 years imprisonment for the smuggling and money laundering charges and five years for the conspiracy and related charges.
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