Ex-actress sells illegal ivory products via WeChat
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E-mail China Daily, January 7, 2015
"Ivory of African elephants, 80 yuan ($12.87) per gram, nicely carved…" This is just one of the ads Yang Xiaoxiao (pseudonym) posted on her WeChat.
The 28-year-old former actress had been trading illegal rhino horn and ivory crafts, and other products made from rare and threatened species to her friends via the social network platform since October, 2013.
The unlawful transactions were mostly completed via online payment and bank transfer so that they seemed less conspicuous.
Yang made a profit of 450,000 yuan ($72,405) from the illegal trades before she was busted last September by the police of Meishan, Sichuan province in a crackdown on illegal purchasing, selling and transporting of products made from rare and endangered wild animals.
The case, the largest in a decade in the province, saw more than 1,200 items of precious wild animal products seized, with over 3 million yuan ($482,700) involved.
Among the seized items Yang once sold to her clients were three bowls made of rhino horn, which were priced at 200,000 yuan ($32,180) each, and four statuettes of Guanyin (the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy).
According to the police, Yang asked a high price for these crafts, and the transaction amounts reached 1.3 million yuan ($209,170) in total, the highest among all suspects.
