TOKYO - A court in China has sentenced a Japanese man to death on charges of trying to smuggle drugs, an official said Friday.

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The man, aged in his 40s, was detained in 2003 at an airport in the northern Chinese city of Dalian on charges of trying to smuggle about 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds) of stimulant drugs to Japan, said the official from the Dalian branch of the Japanese Consulate-General in Shenyang.

The local district court sentenced the man to death on Thursday, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

The man pleaded not guilty and plans to appeal the ruling, Kyodo News agency said.

The case follows the sentencing to death in 2004 of a Japanese man in Shenyang on a similar charge. That man, in his 60s, has appealed the sentence, the official said.