Photo from Homeland Security Investigations, Northwest
SEATTLE - Homeland Security Investigations Northwest, Seattle Police and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Northwest have arrested two men in connection with an ivory-trade bust.
23-year-old Herdade Lokua and 31-year-old Jospin Mujangi, both of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), were arrested on Nov. 3 in Edmonds and were indicted by a federal grand jury on conspiracy, money laundering, smuggling and ivory trafficking charges.
According to the Department of Justice, the pair worked with a middleman to smuggle four packages into the United States.
In August and September 2020, Lokua and Mujangi sent three shipments containing a total of about 49 pounds of ivory by air freight to Seattle, according to the DOJ. In May of 2021, they sent another package with approximately five pounds of rhinoceros horn. At the same time, they conspired to conduct large transactions via ocean freight, offering the buyer more than two tons of elephant ivory, one ton of pangolin scales, and multiple intact rhinoceros horns, the DOJ found.
On Nov. 2, they arrived in Washington state to negotiate the details of the massive deal and were arrested in Edmonds, according to the DOJ.
Endangered animals, like elephants and rhinos, are killed for their trunks and horns, which contain ivory. The ivory is then made into a variety of products and sold across the globe.
The white rhinoceros has been listed as a protected species since 1975 and the African elephant has been on the list since 1977. All species of pangolin were added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ("CITES") appendix with the greatest level of protection in 2017. All three mammals are threatened by poaching and habitat loss, according to the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
In total, 2,067 pounds of ivory and 75 pounds of pangolin scales, worth approximately $3.5 million, were seized from Lokua and Mujangi's hometown in the DRC.
In order to conceal the tusks and horns, the indictment states that the pair had them cut into smaller pieces, which were painted black. They were then mixed with ebony wood to avoid detection by customs authorities, the DOJ said.
If convicted, they could face a maximum of 20 years in prison.
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