A damning new report accuses Chinese officials of smuggling thousands of pounds of ivory back to China on Xi Jinping's presidential plane during a 2013 goodwill visit to Tanzania.

According to the report from U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency, members of Xi's entourage bought up so much ivory during a 2013 trip to Tanzania, that it forced the market to double the price of ivory to $700 a kilo, providing increased incentive for ivory poaching.

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In September, undercover EIA investigators went to The Mwenge Carvers' Market in Dar es Salaam, a hub for illegal ivory trading. Ivory traders they met there said that two weeks prior to Xi's visit, Chinese buyers began purchasing thousands of

kilos of ivory, which were later sent to China in diplomatic bags on the Xi's presidential plane.

EIA investigators were also told by illegal ivory merchants that Chinese Embassy staff members were the major buyers of their ivory.

According to the report, demand for ivory in China is the main driving force behind the increased poaching of elephants in Africa. "While the Chinese government has been promoting ivory carving as part of the country's cultural heritage," it said, "it is threatening Africa's natural heritage."

The report said that illegal ivory trade has tripled since 1998, and that seizure data confirmed China's position as the largest single destination for illicit ivory by far. Hong Kong, Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia are the main transit countries for shipments from Africa.

The EIA warns that the current situation for the Tanzanian elephant population is "dire in the extreme." The country has lost half of its elephants in the past five years and two-thirds since 2006, and is the biggest source of illegal ivory seized around the world.

"Its once mighty herds are being devastated by remorseless criminal organizations," said the report.

TagsChinese officials accused of smuggling ivory, Tanzania, presidential plane, Environmental Investigation Agency