8 sentenced to death for drug trafficking
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Xinhua, June 25, 2011
A court in east China's Jiangsu Province handed down death penalties to seven people on Friday after convicting them of drug trafficking.
The Intermediate People's Court in the city of Changzhou sentenced Wei Rong Xiu and Chen Gang to death and gave five other drug traffickers a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, according to a court statement.
The court found that Wei and Chen both sold more than 2 kg of methamphetamine hydrochloride, also known as "ice," between August 2008 and December 2009.
Five other drug dealers, who sold varying amounts of ice, were given lenient penalties after the court confirmed that they performed "meritorious services" after pleading guilty to their crimes, said the court statement.
The sentences also included the lifelong deprivation of the seven criminals' political rights and the confiscation of all of their property, said the statement.
Chinese authorities have intensified their efforts to fight the abuse and sale of drugs prior to the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, which falls on June 26.
On Friday, prosecutors in Shanghai indicted 132 defendants in connection with 95 drug-related cases.
On the same day, police in the city of Chongzuo in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region announced that they had detained two suspects who allegedly tried to bring 20.9 kg of heroin into the country from abroad.
Earlier this week, police in the cities of Beijing, Shenzhen and Kunming openly destroyed confiscated drugs to demonstrate their determination against drug trafficking.
