Zheng Hongjun and Zheng Jinning, two leaders of a smuggling...

Zheng Hongjun and Zheng Jinning, two leaders of a smuggling gang, were sentenced to death by the People's Intermediate Court in Guangzhou on charges of trafficking diesel oil from Hong Kong. Court investigation showed that Hongjun, head of the gang, smuggled 226,392 tons of oil with a value of 133.7 million yuan (16 million US dollars), from Hong Kong to Guangzhou between 1998 and 2002. Hongjun was sentenced to death and deprived of all political rights. The court also ordered confiscation of all his personal property. Jinning, who helped mastermind the illegal trade, received the death penalty with a two-year reprieve for smuggling nearly 175,000 tons of diesel with a value of 103 million yuan (12 million US dollars), over the same period.