CHINA. DEATH FOR TRIO IN ROBBERY KILLINGS

three men were sentenced to death in the gassing death of seven people at an underground gambling den during a lethal robbery in Ruichang, eastern China's Jiangxi Province. Two of the dead were accomplices in the robbery, who released toxic gas in the gambling room, a court in Ruichang's neighboring city of Jiujiang heard.
On June 7, Yang Litang, Huang Guoping, Wu Zhousheng and Pang Hongjian drove from Jiujiang to Ruichang where they had staked out a gambling den for a robbery, the court was told.
Pang and Wu each carried two bottles of hydrogen cyanide gas to poison the gamblers in a second-floor room. Huang waited outside, and Yang who was to steal valuables after the gassing.
Pang, Wu, and five people in the room died from the killer gas, according to court testimony.
Yang entered the room some time later to check. Seeing the seven unconscious, he opened the window for ventilation but fainted after inhaling the gas, the court heard.
Huang found the eight lying on the floor and called Li Zhengsheng, the robbery mastermind who stayed behind in Jiujiang. Both of them then fled. Yang, however, revived about an hour later and stole valuables worth 36,000 yuan (US$4,445) from the room before fleeing.