BEIJING (AFP) — A Chinese court has sentenced two people to death for attempting to smuggle 400 kilograms of methamphetamine by sea from Southeast Asia to Taiwan, state media reported.
Ten other people with the same smuggling ring were handed between 10 years and life in prison over the "extraordinarily large" operation, China News Service said.
Chinese and foreign trafficking gangs operating out of China's southeastern coastal province of Fujian arranged for fishermen to smuggle the contraband in December 2020, according to the report issued Wednesday.
The verdict by the court in Fujian was announced in "recent days," China News Service said, citing local police.
The death penalty is commonly applied for drug-related crimes in China, where an unknown number of executions take place every year in secretive circumstances.
Fujian, which lies about 100 miles from Taiwan across the Taiwan Strait, has a long history of smuggling migrants and goods overseas through organized networks.
A total of 20 suspects were arrested over the smuggling operation and the 400 kilograms of meth (881 lbs.) seized along with a ship, the report said, citing an unnamed coastguard official.
Since July 2018, the Fujian provincial coastguard has seized 3.7 tons of drugs in nine operations, the report added. © Agence France-Presse
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