The Federal Court of Canada ruled Thursday that China's most-wanted fugitive Lai Changxing will be repatriated back?to China to answer criminal charges.

China's most-wanted fugitive Lai Changxing [File photo]

According to the law, the deportation should be executed soon after the court made a decision.?

According to the Associate Press, Lai Changxing could be returned to China as early as July 23, Canadian government lawyer Helen Park told Federal Justice Michel Shore earlier in the day.?

China welcomed the Canadian court's decision to deport Lai, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu?said in a statement?shortly after?the verdict.

"Lai Changxing has been wanted by the Chinese judiciary as?a major?suspect in a Xiamen smuggling case and fled?to Canada for many years," Ma said.??

"The Chinese government's position is very clear. Lai should be deported to China and put on trial," Ma said.

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Lai was the alleged mastermind of a multi-billion-dollar smuggling racket in Xiamen, Fujian Province.?

From 1996 to 1999, through paying bribes and cultivating connections with local officials, Lai's gang managed to smuggle a range of goods valued at 53 billion yuan (US$8.19 billion), from oil and cars to cigarettes, evading taxes of 30 billion yuan, an investigation revealed.

He fled to Canada with his family in 1999.