Canadian woman sentenced to five years in U.S. prison for ivory smuggling

Published Friday August 8th, 2008

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

AKRON, Ohio - A federal judge in Ohio has sentenced a Canadian woman to five years in prison for smuggling elephant ivory from the African nation of Cameroon to the United States.

The sentence for 32-year-old Tania Siyam was the maximum possible involving endangered wildlife and smuggling. The Cameroon native pleaded guilty in March and was sentenced Wednesday.

The case involved more than 60 kilograms of smuggled ivory worth $140,000 and taken from at least 24 elephants.

The woman, now a Canadian citizen, operated an art import-export business in Montreal.

She had avoided prosecution for four years as Canadian officials initially refused to extradite her.

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