NEW YORK — Two men caught smuggling elephant ivory through New York’s JFK airport have been put behind bars, officials said Thursday.
Kemo Sylla and Mamadi Doumbouya were sentenced to 10 and 14 months respectively, the US attorney’s office in Brooklyn said. Another four in the same gang had previously been sentenced to between 12 and 14 months in prison.
"All the ivory was imported through John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens, New York, disguised as African handicrafts and wooden instruments," the prosecutor’s office said.
Elephants, which were once systematically killed for their ivory tusks, are an internationally protected species. However, poachers continue to kill the endangered animals in order to satisfy a lucrative ivory market.
"Despite international efforts to control the ivory trade and stop the decline of elephant populations, prices and demand remain high causing continued elephant poaching and illegal ivory finding its way into international and domestic markets," the US attorney’s office said.
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