Traffickers dealt death sentence

The Shanghai No.1 Intermediate People's Court has sentenced two men to death for trafficking more than 30 kilograms of methamphetamine and other illegal drugs, the court announced Monday.

One of the defendants, surnamed Liang, hired a long-distance bus on two occasions last April to transport a total of 3 kilograms of methamphetamine from Shenzhen to Shanghai, where the other defendant, surnamed Shi, sold it, according to a court press release.

The next month, Liang sent another bus on a smuggling trip. It was stopped by local police on May 5 when it tried to enter the city through an expressway entrance in Jinshan district. Police discovered about 8 kilograms of methamphetamine and 5 kilograms of ketamine stashed on the vehicle.

Liang sent another shipment from Shenzhen using a logistics service on May 11. Police arrested Shi on his way to pick up the package. Officers escorted him to the logistic center to claim the package, which contained about 1o kilograms of methamphetamine.

Police then arrested Liang, confiscating 6 kilograms of methamphetamine and 11.2 grams of ketamine from his home in Shenzhen. They found 3.5 grams of methamphetamine in Shi's home.

The court decided to give Shi the death sentence because he was a repeat drug offender.

Under the criminal law, a person can be sentenced to more than 15 years in prison for smuggling, selling, transporting or producing 50 grams or more of methamphetamine.