CHINA. FOUR SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR HEROIN TRAFFICKING

May 7, 2005: three convicted drug traffickers were sentenced to death in southwestern China's Sichuan province, while two accomplices were given long prison terms, the Chengdu Commercial Daily said.
The five were convicted and sentenced by a court in Mianyang city for buying and selling 1.5 kilograms of heroin.
Yang Weili and Yang Weilong were fingered for selling heroin in Dali city in neighboring Yunnan province to Dai Linshu, who transported the drugs back to Mianyang in April 2004 to sell.
All three were given the death sentence.
The paper said the provincial high court in recent days "approved" the death sentences, but it was unclear if the executions had taken place, as is usually the case following high court approval.
One of Dai's accomplices was also sentenced to death with a two year reprieve, which in China is often commuted to life imprisonment, while the other accomplice was sentenced to life in prison, the report said.
Police first arrested Dai and his two accomplices in May 2004 in Mianyang with subsequent investigation leading to the arrests of the two Yangs in Dali, it said. (Sources: Agence France Presse, 07/05/2005)