AUTHORITIES EXECUTE 12 FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

Amid a nationwide crackdown on illicit drugs, authorities in several mainland
cities have executed 12 people for drug trafficki and murder, state-run media
reported on Saturday.

Seven people were executed in Beijing on Thursday and Friday following an
order by the Supreme People's Court upholding their convictions for
trafficking in heroin, the Beijing Daily and other newspapers reported.

The executions were announced by Wang Ming, vice president of the
court, who said the severe penalties were consistent with
international standards for such crimes.

Mr Wang said that between January 1999 and May 2000 police had
arrested more than 6,000 people for suspected drug offences. Of that
number, 945 were given jail sentences or the death penalty, the report
quoted him as saying.

The reports did not give the method of execution, which in the
mainland is usually by gunshot.

Meanwhile, three people were executed by gunshot on Friday for drug
trafficking in the southern city of Guangzhou, the local newspaper
Yangcheng Evening News reported. They were among a seven-person gang
caught trying to smuggle overseasreported. They were among a
seven-person gang caught trying to smuggle overseas heroin produced at
underground factories in Guangdong, it said.

In Dongguan, another Guangdong city, two men were executed by gunshot
on Friday for murdering two Taiwanese businessmen, the state-run
newspaper Guangming Daily reported.

It said the two men attacked the Taiwanese brothers on April 28,
bashing their heads with steel pipes and stealing 2,000 yuan
(HK$1,795) in cash.