Congo jails three Chinese citizens in illegal mining crackdown
Chinese nationals Cheng Chang-Fu, Wan Ling-Wu and Cheng Hai-Yan, who were arrested in possession of gold bars and $400,000 in cash and found guilty of illegal activities related to artisanal mining, stand in the courtroom in Bukavu, South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo on January 14, 2025.
A Congolese court has sentenced three Chinese citizens to seven years in prison after they were arrested in possession of gold bars and $400,000 in cash and found guilty of illegal activities linked to the artisanal mining sector.
The trio are the first Chinese nationals to stand trial since Democratic Republic of Congo launched its latest push to crack down on the unlicensed extraction of the many precious and strategic minerals buried in its conflict-torn east.
