The Supreme People's Court on Monday announced that five convicted drug traffickers involved in three major drug trafficking cases have been executed.

According to a court verdict, Lian Yongming, Wu Bing, Liu Hongwei, and Su Chuwen, set up a drug purchase, transport, storage and sales network in Chongqing, Shanghai and Wuxi.

Lian, the reported ringleader, and his accomplices were involved in the sale and transport of a total of 20,284.01 grams of heroin in ten separate cases, and in the sale of 1,402 grams of heroin in nine other separate cases on his account or in collaboration with others.

Wu Bing transported and made arrangements for others to receive and sell a total of 16,317 grams of heroin in eight separate cases and sold 100 grams of heroin on his own.

Liu Hongwei was involved in the transportation of 10,825 grams of heroin in five cases, and Su Chuwen received and stored 8,817 grams of heroin in four separate cases and sold 1,436 grams of heroin.

Authorities seized 6,381.01 grams of heroin after the gang was arrested. The rest had apparently been sold.

The Intermediate People's Court of Wuxi City, in east China's Jiangsu Province sentenced the four defendants to death on July 8, 2005. The four defendants appealed. On February 17, 2006, the Jiangsu Provincial Higher People's Court rejected the appeal and upheld the original sentence. The case was sent to the Supreme People's Court for review.

They were executed on Monday, International Anti-drug Day.

The fifth person to be executed was Qin Tengjun, who was convicted of producing and transporting 18.214 kg of "ice" or methamphetamine hydrochloride since October 2002. He was also found guilty for illegal possession of weapons, such as guns and ammunition.

All the drugs and weapons have been sized by authorities.

The Intermediate People's Court of Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province sentenced Qin to death. Qin appealed but his appeal was rejected by the Guangdong Provincial Higher People's Court. The Supreme People's Court reviewed the case.

Qin was executed on June 23, 2006.
In another drug case details of which were released by the Supreme People's Court on Monday, Zhou Jianjun purchased 762 grams of heroin through a Ma Xingcai who bought the drugs Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. Zhou stored the drugs in his mother's home in Urumqi City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Ma has been arrested and given a prison term.

Authorities have seized the drugs and arrested Zhou.

Zhou provided important information that helped police arrest another seven drug traffickers and seize 178 grams of heroin.

The Intermediate People's Court of Urumqi sentenced Zhou to death on November 17, 2004. Zhou appealed but his appeal was rejected by the higher people's court of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Reviewing his case, the Supreme People's Court commuted the death sentence to death with a two-year reprieve.?

Statistics from the Supreme People's Court showed that Chinese courts accepted and handled a total of 47,232 cases on drug crimes and concluded 45,587 cases from January 2005 to May 2006. 53,205 defendants were given sentences, 22,371 of whom were given more than five years imprisonment, life imprisonment or death sentence

Jiang Xingchang, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court said on Monday that Chinese courts will continue to strike hard on drug crimes to maintain law and order.

China had 785,000 drug addicts at the end of 2005, 89 percent of whom were addicted to heroin, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Public Security.

Chen Cunyi, deputy secretary-general of the National Narcotics Control Commission, said professional drug smuggling gangs have emerged in China. They collude with overseas drug trafficking gangs and bring in drugs from overseas. They set up drug selling networks across the country, using Kunming, Dali, Guangzhou and Shenzhen as transit centers.

"Although opium poppy production in the Golden Triangle has been reduced, most of the heroin still produced in the region is trafficked to China," Chen said at a press conference organized by the Information Office of the State Council.

He said the production and smuggling of new drugs such as methamphetamine, or "ice", has increased in recent years. Many regions in China have reported stashes of "ice" produced in Myanmar.

Chen also warned that there is a growing threat of drug being trafficked from the Golden Crescent region of central Asia, especially Afghanistan.

The Chinese government has tightened drug enforcement at major railway stations and airports, as well as along the borders with the Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent countries.

(Xinhua News Agency June 27, 2006)