DRUG DEALERS GET ULTIMATE PUNISHMENT

Three drug traffickers were sentenced to death on Friday in Guangzhou,
capital of South China's Guangdong Province, said a Guangzhou
Intermediate People's Court official.

And another six members of the same drug gang were sentenced to life
in jail.

Sentenced to death were Yu Zhuoxiong, Guo Mingqing and Chen
Yuhan.

Cheng Junyong, Fang Xiaochong, Lu Yaozong, Chen Xiongwen, Luo Jiaxiong
and He Zhonghong were sentenced to life in jail.

Wen Qicheng, Liang Kairong and Li Yanfei, another three accomplices
were sentenced to terms between 8 to 15 years.

All the illegal property of the gang was confiscated.

The sentences and seizures bring to an end the largest ecstasy and ice
trafficking case ever cracked in the Chinese mainland.

Yu and his gang produced and trafficked, among others, more than 4
million ecstasy pills, 3,000 kilograms of the drug called ice, 800
kilograms of caffeine between 1997 and 2001.

Most of drugs Yu and his gang produced were sold to South Africa and
other overseas locales.

The gang started producing and trafficking in 1993, with production
bases in Guangdong and Henan provinces.

The case was cracked in Guangzhou in May of 2001.

All the suspects were arrested while trading with overseas drug
dealers.

Over the past few years, drug trafficking and drug related crimes have
been rampant in some parts of the prosperous Guangdong, Hong Kong and
Macao areas.

Guangdong has stepped up its fight against drug related crimes, said
the official who declined to be identified.

In China, transporting and sheltering narcotics are serious crimes and
those convicted are severely punished. Drug dealers may face death
penalty if convicted of trafficking more than 50 grams of heroin or
ice, according to China's Criminal Law.