Dozens of drug dealers were sentenced to death in a...

Dozens of drug dealers were sentenced to death in a series of drug-related criminal cases across China as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking drew near. In southwestern Yunnan Province, Tan Minglin and three other people convicted of smuggling or selling five tons of drugs, including heroin and ephedrine, were executed after having all their belongings confiscated. South China's Guangdong Province cracked a series of such drug-related criminal cases. Li Qingyuan was sentenced to death while his colleague Lu Guowu was sentenced a two-year stay of execution with all his property confiscated. Tan Zhong'an, another accomplice, was given a seven-year jail term and fined 10,000 yuan (1,200 US dollars) by a local court in Shenzhen City, which neighboured on Hong Kong. Four more drug-related suspects, including Liu Shenming, Ma Guoli, Wang Jianwei and Ye Yuezhen, were also executed respectively by courts in Fanyu, Huadu, Conghua districts, and a development zone of Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong. Chen Xue'an and three other suspects accused of illegally purchasing 60 kg of drugs by raising over 4m yuan (481,000 US dollars) were sentenced to death in Wenzhou City in east China's Zhejiang Province. Cars, mobile phones and over 5m yuan (602,000 US dollars) of illicit money involved in the case were also confiscated. In Hangzhou, capital city of the province, a total of 17 suspects, two ohwhich were infected with AIDS, were sentenced to death after being declared guilty of smuggling drugs.