2010-08-09 08:05

Drug trafficker Chan Thao Phoumy (left) appears in court in Guangzhou in this 2007 file photo. [PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY]

GUANGZHOU - Two drug traffickers, including a Chinese French citizen, were sentenced to death on Saturday for manufacturing, transporting and dealing large amounts of crystal methamphetamine, also known as "ice", in South China's Guangdong province.

Chan Thao Phoumy, a 47-year-old French citizen who was born in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong, and Xie Weiming, also had their personal assets confiscated, according to the sentence handed down by the Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou.

Two other traffickers in the eight-member drug ring, Li Yunfeng and Xian Jinbai, were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve. Three others were sentenced to life imprisonment and a further gang member was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment, according to the court.

The court found that, at the beginning of 1999, Chan Thao Phoumy, Xie and Hong Kong resident Chung Kwan Shing planned to manufacture and deal crystal methamphetamine, splitting the profits amongst themselves. Chung's case has been handled separately.

The drug ring began to produce synthesized crystal methamphetamine in Boluo county in Huizhou city of Guangdong in 1999, before transferring production to other sites in Guangdong and Henan provinces in 2002.

The ring manufactured tons of crystal methamphetamine in Guangdong and Henan between 1999 and 2003, and sold the drugs on numerous occasions, the court heard.

The police caught up with them in March 2005. About 89 suspects were arrested and 16 factories used to manufacture heroin and crystal meth were seized from the 100 million yuan ($14.8 million) drug operation, according to the police. In 2007, the Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou sentenced Chan Thao Phoumy to life imprisonment for drug trafficking.

While he was behind bars, additional crimes were uncovered, which resulted in him being sentenced to death on Saturday.

The Criminal Law stipulates that people convicted of smuggling, selling, transporting or producing more than 50 grams of methamphetamine or heroine may be sentenced to death.

Chan Thao Phoumy is not the first foreigner to receive the death sentence for drug trafficking in China. On April 6, Mitsunobu Akano, a Japanese national, was executed after being convicted of attempting to smuggle drugs from China to Japan in 2006.

In December 2009, Akmal Shaikh, a 53-year-old British national, was executed by lethal injection in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, after being convicted of smuggling more than 4 kilograms of heroin into China.

Akmal Shaikh's execution provoked an outcry from the British. In response, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that drug-related crime is treated seriously worldwide.

Police nationwide cracked 77,000 drug-related crimes and detained 91,000 suspects in 2009, a 25 percent increase on the preceding year, according to the Narcotics Control Commission.

China Daily - Xinhua