CHINA EXECUTES SEVEN GANG MEMBERS

BEIJING (AP) Authorities in southern Guangdong province have
executed seven gang members who were convicted of dozens of armed
robberies and trafficking in guns and ammunition.

The members of what was known as the "two gun, one axe" gang were
executed Tuesday after Guangdong's highest court rejected their
appeals, the local newspaper Yangcheng Evening News said.

In a report seen Wednesday in Beijing, the paper said the group's
members were found guilty of killing three people and committing about
50 armed robberies or burglaries as well as trafficking in weapons.

A court in Beijing, meanwhile, has sentenced to death an unemployed
man convicted of selling heroin, the official newspaper China Daily
reported Wednesday.

Ma Yong, from Gansu province a drug-trafficking corridor in
northwestern China was caught selling 10 1/2 ounces of heroin in a
Beijing park in May, the report said.

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate Court, which sentenced Ma on Monday,
also sentenced an accomplice, Yan Yiling, to life imprisonment, it
said. The court also ordered the confiscation of all of Ma and Yan's
property.

The severe sentences were cited as evidence of the government's
determination to curb the fast-growing trade in illegal drugs.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady