http://abc7news.com/news/foste...in-tanzania/1255113/



FOSTER CITY COUPLE BACK AT HOME AFTER BEING ACCUSED OF POACHING IN TANZANIA

Bay City News
Updated 23 mins ago


FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- A Foster City couple is home after three weeks under arrest earlier this year in Tanzania accused of poaching.

Jon and Linda Grant took a cruise that started in Cape Town, South Africa, that took them to a game reserve near Durban, South Africa. At the game reserve, they stopped at a curio shop where Jon spotted a 15- to 18-inch giraffe bone with a herd of elephants carved on it. He was interested in the bone because he hadn't seen anything like it and thought it might look good on his desk at home. He's a retired dentist who's traveled to 132 countries on seven continents.

"Is that legal," Jon said was the first thing he asked the shop clerk.

The clerk said yes and told Grant all the laws have to do with ivory.

"That sounded logical," he said. But he hadn't thought the bone might be illegal in another country.

Later in the trip the couple flew from Kenya to Tanzania for a 6-day safari. On the way out of the country, a baggage checker asked Jon to remove the bone from his luggage. Jon told the checker what it was and where he bought it. The checker examined it while the couple's luggage was put on a plane. But the next thing he knew his plane tickets had been canceled and the couple had their luggage back.

"The giraffe is our national animal," Jon said he was told.

The couple was taken away in a van and spent two nights in jail and one night in prison. They faced 20 years in prison and a $150,000 fine for poaching.

"It was so out of line with what we did," Jon said.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, has a somewhat different interpretation. Speier thinks they were targeted because they were Americans and they looked like they had money.

Getting out of Tanzania cost the Grants $62,000, little of they will get back even though American officials intervened. Speier said the U.S. gives millions in aid to Tanzania each year. She said U.S. officials should reevaluate that aid or at least have a direct conversation about how local customs agents handle Americans being processed through their system. She said the problem faced by the Grants may be a pattern that has developed. If there is a pattern, U.S. officials need to reevaluate the U.S.'s relationship with Tanzania, according to Speier. Future travelers need to be alerted too, Speier said.

Before the Grants were able to come home they had to pay $2,000 to have a person carry an original receipt from South Africa to a Tanzanian courtroom to prove where they bought the bone.

"This is pretty egregious," Speier said.

How many "original" receipts are there? I would have thought once goods were bought and paid for, the buyer would have been issued a legal receipt by the shopkeeper.

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/...p/1776425160337.html



Escape from Tanzania: Foster City couple jailed in Africa thank Speier for help
March 19, 2016, 05:00 AM

Samantha Weigel/Daily Journal


By Samantha Weigel

Daily Journal staff

As Jon and Linda Grant sat across from U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier thanking her for helping them escape from Tanzania, it’s hard to imagine anyone would think the 72- and 65-year-olds were capable of anything that would warrant a 20-year sentence in foreign prison.

But the Foster City couple said that’s exactly what they faced while trying to navigate a corrupt court system earlier this year and it cost them nearly $70,000 to make it home.

While traveling through Africa, the retired dentist and his wife were thrown into jail and charged with poaching after they purchased what they thought, and asked multiple times to ensure, was a legal piece of artwork made out of a giraffe bone.

But the intricately engraved 18-inch bone bought at a souvenir shop within a wildlife refuge ultimately had the unsuspecting couple each facing a 20-year sentence and $150,000 fine for poaching.

Jon Grant said it’s still hard to believe that what he was carrying happened to be illegal in Tanzania — their final destination after a two-week cruise and a weeklong safari in South Africa. And unbeknownst to them, Tanzania’s national animal is a giraffe.

Despite other countries and customs agents allowing them to travel with it, in Tanzania the couple was accused of killing a giraffe, cutting off its leg, then intricately engraving it within a matter of days. Quickly, their passports and belongings were taken away before being sent to jail and eventually prison.

“I don’t even think I have the appropriate words to describe the fear,” Linda Grant recalled, later noting even embassy officials and Tanzanian tour guides couldn’t believe the couple was being charged. “Everyone realized that this is the most trumped up charge on Earth, but we got caught up in this [corrupt] system.”

Between bribes, legal fees, government fines and new airfare, the couple said it cost them more than $70,000 to escape from Africa.

The Grants are no strangers to traveling — Jon’s been to 132 countries, Linda’s visited 100 countries and, for the last 15 years, the humanitarian couple worked with the Rotary to distribute 400,000 wheelchairs to the disabled in developing countries.

They’d also been to Africa several times. So Jon Grant said wasn’t as though he didn’t know what to ask before purchasing the bone.

“Is it legal?” “Are you sure I can take it through customs?” he asked of the seller and when he showed it to a tour guide. Jon Grant said he even kept part of it unwrapped so he could easily show customs agents it wasn’t ivory, an obviously illegal contraband.

But while making their way through one airport customs proved flawless, their final stop in Tanzania was the beginning of a long nightmare, the couple said.

“Right from the beginning, everyone said ‘we’ve never heard of anything like this. This is crazy. You’re being charged with poaching for having a souvenir in your suitcase,” Jon Grant said, emphasizing the couple in no way endorses illegal killings or poaching.

He too recalled being in custody with uniformed juveniles with AK-47s hung around their necks keeping watch over the Americans who were denied food and initially, Jon Grant’s medication.

Their tour company tried to intervene and eventually got the head of a Tanzanian tour guide association to get involved — thousands of dollars were shuffled to judges and prosecutors to move up court dates and, after three days being locked up, the couple was able to bail out.

But then it was another nearly three weeks of making court appearances and staying with the wealthy head of the tour guide association who thankfully, had access to money and knew the scheme. But despite bribing multiple officials, one didn’t bite, Jon Grant said.

They were seriously facing 20 years in a Tanzanian prison as new state officials sought to make an “example” and put a firm foot down on poaching. But after reaching out to their friend and Foster City Deputy Mayor Charlie Bronitsky, the ball got rolling.

Ultimately, Speier’s office got involved and was able to connect with the U.S. ambassador who finally convinced prosecutors to reduce the charge against Jon Grant and drop the charges against Linda.

But it could have been much worse, they said, if Speier, D-San Mateo, hadn’t gotten involved.

The couple recounted their story to Speier in her district office Friday afternoon and the congresswoman encouraged them to visit the Capitol and testify to officials who could help.

“It’s truly alarming that that kind of gaff can go on and I’m convinced that they ID’d them as Americans that might have a few dollars and they were going to take them to the cleaner. And our country, we can’t allow that to go on,” Speier said. “I’m going to call the State Department and ask to meet with the appropriate officials about this because it’s untenable. Otherwise I think we’re going to have to basically say, ‘don’t buy anything in these countries.’ And then their economies are going to tank, so we really need to clear this up.”

Although the couple said they don’t imagine they’ll be traveling anywhere requiring a passport any time soon — a disappointment for the duo that has spent much of their relationship visiting foreign nations — their spirits remain bright.

They’ve been home for nearly two months. Jon Grant recovered after having a four-day hospital stay prompted by the stressful trip, and they’ve had to take a line of credit out on their home to pay back the head of the tour association $62,000 — half of which covered the court fine and the remainder went to bribes and legal fees, they said.

Ultimately, they said they came forward with their story as a cautionary tale for others who travel.

Linda Grant urged people to visit the State Department websites of countries they travel to and make sure to know the rules and Jon Grant said the bone he didn’t even get to keep sure wasn’t worth the harrowing ordeal.

“It’s ruined our perception of fun travel. I think the message is, you get into these countries where they can just do anything they want,” Jon Grant said, noting they were initially denied an attorney and phone call to the embassy. “I think it’s important to get the word out to people that are traveling, especially in Tanzania, there’s no rules there, you have no rights.”

samantha@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106

If sub-Sahara African counties continue to do this type of thing, pretty soon they will be back to 100% hunter/gathering in order to survive.

Why our idiot US government keeps throwing milions of dollars at such corrupt governments is something I will never understand.

JMO

BH63

Last year, as we were leaving Dar, we were told of a German hunter who was arrested because he had
A warthog bone in his luggage.

Apparently he has been in jail for a few days awaiting trial.

We were specifically told by our PH not to take any animal or plant part out of the country.

Not worth the hassle whatsoever!

How was the Customs officer to know it was from a Giraffe (which in Tanzania, other than it being the National Emblem, is also a protected species) if it were not for the old couple to unwittingly declare it as such and not have a receipt in hand to confirm its legality and provenance?

Think twice about your elephant hair bracelets.

When you purchase items in Africa, A person needs to practice what you do at home.

I save all the sale slips and note where (town/city) or business I made the purchase from.

When I get home I have a wad of receipts to go through.

Some times US customs ask what you paid for an item and I have the receipt. You just have to do the currency adjustment for them.

An injustice, to be sure. But not a smart move to purchase such a thing and then travel with it across African borders.

If Magufuli is serious about stopping corruption then this case needs investigated and all the people bribed need fired. Then the money returned to the offended couple.

Last year I took my son on a hunting trip to South Africa (camp rifle) then we continued on a business trip to Tanzania. Landing in Dar we went to arrivals, picked up our luggage and carried it back into the terminal for a departure upcountry. My son had five 30-06 shells as souvenirs from the RSA hunt. At the x-ray they asked my son to open his suitcase. They pulled out the shells and asked where our rifles were. We said we didn't have any, we weren't hunting in Tanzania. They said we had to have rifles if we had bullets. I said we didn't have bullets, just shell casings. He said we had bullets. I said they used to be bullets, they are now whistles, and demonstrated. I said bullets have an unfired primer, powder and a projectile. He wasn't amused and led us to the police room in the terminal. The head of police didn't speak English and my Swahili is poor these days. Another terminal employee translated for us. We were going to have to fill out multiple forms, some of which they didn't have at the airport. I asked if we could just leave the shells with them so we wouldn't miss our flight. They said okay but we had put them in a position of having to fill out forms needlessly, and they were going to have to finish the forms when we left. I asked why they needed to fill out forms for whistles, thanked them profusely then left the police room before my words had been translated to the head of police. (There is a lot more to this story, it took about an hour, but you get the gist)

Moral of the story - I need to start paying closer attention to what I am carrying. As Andrew said, elephant hair bracelet. Along with that elephant belt, sling, billfold, some Courtney boots, etc. Unfortunately the world is becoming a more complicated place to traverse.

Tanzania, congratulations for busting a notorius "carved giraffe bone" smuggling ring! Well done ladies and gentlemen.

Although it took your various law enforcement agencies 14 years to bust Ms. Yang Feng Glan, you managed to arrest an elderly couple within days of entering your country.

As per an article in The Guardian dated October 8, 2015:

***

Chinese 'ivory queen' charged with smuggling 706 elephant tusks

Yang Feng Glan, kingpin between east African poaching syndicates and Chinese buyers, accused in Tanzania of smuggling ivory worth £1.62m

A Chinese woman dubbed the “ivory queen” for her alleged leadership of one of Africa’s biggest ivory smuggling rings has been captured and charged.

Yang Feng Glan is accused of smuggling 706 elephant tusks worth £1.62m from Tanzania to the far east. The Elephant Action League, a US-based campaign group, described her as “the most important ivory trafficker ever arrested in the country”.

The 66-year-old is said to have been a crucial link between east African poaching syndicates and buyers in China, where ivory is prized for ornamental use, for over 14 years. Tanzania’s national and transnational serious crimes investigation unit had been tracking Glan for more than a year, according to the Elephant Action League.

“She recently disappeared from Tanzania, moving to Uganda, but returned one week ago, when the task force swiftly moved and arrested her,” the league said. “After confessing to many of her crimes she has been taken to the high court of Dar es Salaam facing a maximum sentence of 20 to 30 years imprisonment.”

On Wednesday Glan appeared at the Kisutu magistrates court, along with Tanzanians Salvius Matembo and Manase Philemon, in the city of Dar es Salaam. She was charged with smuggling ivory between 2000 and 2014, although some reports suggested she may have been active since the 1980s. Glan did not enter a plea and was remanded in custody to await a further hearing.

Tanzania’s elephant population is one of Africa’s biggest but has been hit hard by the illegal ivory trade. In June, a government census revealed it had lost a “catastrophic” 60% of its elephants in five years. The data showed that between 2009 and 2014, the number dropped from 109,051 to 43,330.

The government has been heavily criticised for its inability to stop the flow and for turning a blind eye to so-called kingpins linked to the large and influential Chinese community in the country. It is extremely unusual for an ivory kingpin, especially a Chinese national, to appear in court.

The Elephant Action League said Glan is originally from Beijing and owns several properties and many cars. She learned Swahili and moved to Tanzania in 1975 as a translator when China was building a railway.

“According to the first information collected by the task force, she has been trafficking ivory since at least 2006, working with the most high-ranking poachers in the country and in the region. She is connected to various companies abroad, all Chinese-owned, and circulates in the upper echelons of Chinese citizens living and working in Tanzania.”

She is the vice-president and secretary-general of the Tanzania China-Africa business council, it added, and owns the biggest Chinese restaurant at Dar es Salaam station.

Andrea Crosta, co-founder of the Elephant Action League and WildLeaks, said: “It’s the news that we have all been waiting for, for years. Finally, a high-profile Chinese trafficker is in jail. Hopefully, she can lead us to other major traffickers and corrupt government officials. We must put an end to the time of the untouchables if we want to save the elephants.

“Everyone she has been dealing with will now become a target for law enforcement,” Crosta added.

Yang’s court appearance came just a week after another Chinese woman, Li Ling Ling, was charged by the same court along with four Tanzanians with aiding the smuggling of ivory to Switzerland.

Last December Kenyan national Feisal Ali Mohammed, a suspected organised crime boss alleged to be a leading figure in the illegal ivory trade, was arrested by Interpol agents in Tanzania.

***

I'll be very interested to see how long Ms. Yang actually serves. I doubt if it will be anywhere near 20 years, unfortunately. Tanzania is pretty tough on anything elephant or giraffe. The elephant is intuitive, but someone who had not hunted in Tanzania before and did not know that giraffe were completely protected might not think about a carved souvenir.

Ailsa, I know that room well. A couple of years ago while they were checking my rifle and counting ammunition -- I was asked to load live ammunition into my rifle. Now my Swahili isn't so good either, so I questioned whether I heard him right. But fortunately I was with my PH and I looked at him with a -- this is a trick, isn't it look. He assured my they really wanted me to load my rifle, so I chambered a live round in a .416 in an international airport and after unloading it, we went on our way.

Maybe dentists should not be allowed in Africa...........

quote:

Jon and Linda Grant took a cruise that started in Cape Town, South Africa, that took them to a game reserve near Durban, South Africa. At the game reserve, they stopped at a curio shop where Jon spotted a 15- to 18-inch giraffe bone with a herd of elephants carved on it. He was interested in the bone because he hadn't seen anything like it and thought it might look good on his desk at home. He's a retired dentist who's traveled to 132 countries on seven continents.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:.

Ailsa, I know that room well. A couple of years ago while they were checking my rifle and counting ammunition -- I was asked to load live ammunition into my rifle. Now my Swahili isn't so good either, so I questioned whether I heard him right. But fortunately I was with my PH and I looked at him with a -- this is a trick, isn't it look. He assured my they really wanted me to load my rifle, so I chambered a live round in a .416 in an international airport and after unloading it, we went on our way.

Would have been a bad time to have an AD. Interesting what can happen in airports in third world countries, even today.

50 years ago a friend of my parents carried a loaded pistol from the US through Europe to Mbeya in his carry on. He felt he needed it due to our snakes and wild animals. We thought this kind of odd even for the 60's. He carried it back home the same way with no issues. Things were pretty carefree in the days prior to D.B. Cooper. Of course in those days you could buy carved tusks, lion claw necklaces, etc. at the Dar airport to take home with you. The world has changed in our lifetime.

I'd have loved to see the airports at Mbeya, Arusha and Dar 50 years ago. Mbeya isn't much now. Fifty years ago it must not have been more than a tar strip.

I wish I could go back to those times.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
I'd have loved to see the airports at Mbeya, Arusha and Dar 50 years ago. Mbeya isn't much now. Fifty years ago it must not have been more than a tar strip.

I wish I could go back to those times.

The new Mbeya airport at Songwe is a gem, with the terminal and the ability to land jets. It is about three years old. The old airport was a grass strip south of downtown. In the 60's, East African Airways DC3's were the largest plane that I remember landing there. (Think about the Indiana Jones movie where you are in the cabin with chickens and pigs. It happened.) Prior to Indigenization, many of the pilots were RAF trained and served in the Battle of Brittan or flew missions over Europe. Wish I could remember some of their stories.

Don't know anything about the Arusha airport.

I think you have been in the old terminal in Dar. It is the red brick building that the charters fly out of SW of the current terminal. Saw the terminal they are building last month. It is coming along. Hope they are designing a decent HVAC system into it.

CORRECTION: In my previous post I mentioned a loaded pistol being carried. In thinking about it I doubt it was loaded, but the pistol and ammunition were carried together in the carryon.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Think twice about your elephant hair bracelets.

Back in 2003, I just threw 4 elephant hair bracelets in my checked baggage (I had given one to a girl I had met in Bulawayo) and I was wearing one.

Nothing was ever said as I was leaving Zim or RSA, and nothing was ever said when I cleared US Customs in Atlanta.

Nowadays, I might be arrested. What is the world coming too???


BHH63

The posts about Ms Yang are interesting, given China's efforts to forge closer ties with African countries, coupled with their cultural desire to own African ivory artifacts.

A marriage made in hades, IMO.


BH63

Ailsa,

I have been in the old red brick terminal in Dar. My last charters flew in and out of that terminal. If I recall, charters used to fly out of a smaller white building, not sure where it was located in relation to the main terminal.

You are right about air conditioning in main terminal. That would be terrific.

If the new terminal at Mbeya is only a few years old, I guess I was there shortly after it opened (in 2013). It is nice.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Ailsa,

I have been in the old red brick terminal in Dar. My last charters flew in and out of that terminal. If I recall, charters used to fly out of a smaller white building, not sure where it was located in relation to the main terminal.

You are right about air conditioning in main terminal. That would be terrific.

If the new terminal at Mbeya is only a few years old, I guess I was there shortly after it opened (in 2013). It is nice.

Lavaca,

You would have been at the new airport soon after it opened.

I flew into the new Mbeya airport a couple of weeks after it opened. As you know, you wait just inside the terminal until they bring your luggage in and drop it off in the middle of the room. I picked up my checked bag, then found myself in a queue to open my bags and have the police rummage around inside them before leaving the terminal. Evidently they felt luggage should be checked after getting off the plane! (This procedure was changed a couple months later)

Only in Africa.