Tanzania is studying a report alleging that Chinese officials bought large amounts of illegal ivory during a visit by President Xi Jinping last year and smuggled it out in diplomatic bags aboard his plane, a Tanzanian government official said on Thursday.
Beijing denied the allegation by an environmental campaign group, describing it as without foundation.
Poaching has risen in recent years across sub-Saharan Africa, where well-armed criminal gangs have killed elephants for tusks and rhinos for horns that are often shipped to Asia for use in ornaments and medicines. The situation has been most dramatic in Tanzania, where 10,000 elephants were killed last year alone, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), the international campaign group that reported the alleged Chinese smuggling.