Former stewardess gets 3 year imprisonment for smuggling

A former air stewardess was sentenced to three years in prison in a retrial after she had previously been sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment for smuggling goods, a Beijing court announced on Tuesday.

According to Beijing Municipality No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, Li Xiaohang, with assistance from accomplices, brought goods such as cosmetics from the Republic of Korea through the nothing to declare channel in order to evade taxes of 80,000 yuan (13,170 U.S.dollars).

The court ruled that Li and two other defendants, Chu Ziqiao and Shi Haidong, were guilty of smuggling goods. Li was given three years' imprisonment and a fine of 40,000 yuan. Chu and Shi received fixed-term sentences of 30 months and 28 months respectively.

On June 25, 2012, the Beijing Municipality No. 2 People's Procuratorate presented public prosecution to the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court accusing the three of the crime of smuggling goods.

The three suspects were found guilty of evading taxes worth 1 million yuan, and Li was sentenced to 11 years in prison, according to the court ruling on September 3, 2012.

They appealed to the Beijing High People's Court, which sent the case back to the Beijing Municipality No. 2 Intermediate People's Court for retrial on May 2, 2013.