JOHANNESBURG –  Authorities in Africa hunted down one of their biggest trophies to date last week — an ivory-trafficking mastermind they say is at the center of a trade that has seen more than 500,000 elephants killed for their tusks in recent decades.

Yang Feng Glan, the Chinese woman dubbed the “Queen of Ivory,” was nabbed in Tanzania after a special task force from the nation’s National and Transnational Serious Crimes Investigation Unit stalked her for a year as she shuttled between Beijing, Uganda and Tanzania facilitating the illegal tusk trade.

“The most notorious ivory trafficker brought to task so far,” the U.S.-based  Elephant Action League said, describing Glan after her capture in the East African nation.

“It’s a very important arrest, the most important in Africa in the past years.”

– Andrea Crosta, Elephant Action League