A Chinese court sentenced two people to death and another...

A Chinese court sentenced two people to death and another to life in jail after they were convicted of smuggling the pelts of nearly 1,400 endangered animals into Tibet. Among the pelts confiscated were those of Bengal tigers, golden leopards, otter and lynx, all classified by China as endangered species. Officials valued the haul at 63 million yuan (7.6 million dollars), saying it was the largest single seizure of endangered animal products in the region since 1951. The ringleader of the group Wang Jie was sentenced to death by the Lhasa intermediate court. Gongbu, a native Tibetan, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. Another Tibetan, Laba Ciren, was given life imprisonment. All three appealed the verdict. The three were arrested with the pelts in October 2003 in Tibet's Ngamring county, along the border with neighboring Nepal.