A Pakistani and a Nigerian were jailed for life yesterday by a Beijing court for smuggling drugs to China. The case was a first for Beijing Capital International Airport as never before have suspects been found to be moving drugs inside their bodies. 

According to the judgment by Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court, the properties of Muhammad Zubair, a 54-year-old man from Pakistan and Agape Emeka, a 31-year-old man from Nigeria, will be confiscated.

A third man Tahir Hussain Abbasi, 43, also from Pakistan, was sentenced to imprisonment of 15 years. He'll be deported after serving his term in China. All of his properties will also be confiscated. .

The case involved 1.3 kilograms of heroin smuggled last summer.

In August, Zubair arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport from Islamabad. He was caught at a hotel in Beijing excreting 68 heroin pills weighing 600 grams and another 400 grams of heroine was found in his sandals.

Four days later Abbasi traveled to Beijing on a flight from Islamabad. He had swallowed 39 heroin pills weighing 330 grams.

After being caught, Zubair and Abbasi cooperated with customs to track down Emeka in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province. Zubair and Abbasi delivered the drugs to the Nigerian who was arrested on taking receipt of them.

The three smugglers were taken into custody and formally arrested in September.

According to Zubair his boss in Pakistan offered him a payment of US$500 to smuggle the drugs to China. Abbasi was offered a sum of US$2,000.

A total of 12 kilograms of drugs were found by customs police in Beijing last year, according to Wang Yong, vice director of Beijing Customs and foreigners were the chief culprits.

"No Chinese have been caught so far smuggling drugs to Beijing through the airport," Wang said at a press conference yesterday. Beijing was not a major location for smuggling drugs into China, he told China Daily.

(China Daily June 21, 2006)