Three main players convicted in the mainland's biggest smuggling and corruption scandal have had their suspended death sentences commuted to life imprisonment ahead of the alleged ringleader's expected extradition from Canada, local media reported yesterday.

The Fujian Daily said the Fujian Higher People's Court had commuted the two-year suspended death sentence handed down on appeal to former Fuzhou deputy police chief Zhuang Rushun for his role in the Xiamen-based Yuanhua Group network that smuggled goods worth as much as 25 billion yuan.

The court also commuted the death sentences of Chen Yanxin, the former general manager of the Fujian Petroleum Co, and Wang Yandi, a former general manager of the Xiangyu Xindadi Import and Export Co.