CHINA: 'DRUG LORD' LOSES APPEAL AGAINST DEATH

a Guangdong court in China upheld a death sentence against a drug 'kingpin' repatriated from Thailand, Xinhua reported. Chen Bingxi, 52, was found guilty of overseeing the production and trafficking of 12.36 tonnes of methamphetamine and the sale and trafficking of more than 100kg of heroin in 1998 and 1999, Guangdong Higher People's Court said at the end of a seven-month appeal hearing. The death sentence will be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court, as mainland law requires. The case was originally heard in Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court in 2006, and six of the nine convicted, including the couple, appealed to the higher court, Xinhua reported. Chen Baoyu was sentenced to 111/2 years in jail for helping to manufacture methamphetamine illegally, and two accomplices were given suspended death sentences.