Former chemistry professor sentenced to life for making and exporting narcotics
Another Chinese ‘Walter White’ pocketed millions of yuan each year for a decade with underground drugs lab whose customers paid with Bitcoins
A Chinese chemistry professor was sentenced to life behind bars on Thursday for his role in a multi-million dollar drug making scheme that drew comparisons with hit United States television show Breaking Bad.
The convicted chemist, surnamed Zhang, and his partner, surnamed Yang, made more than 4 million yuan (HK$4.5 million or US$581,142) each year for almost a decade manufacturing narcotics sold over the internet to customers in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Yang was handed a death sentence suspended for two years.
Zhang has been dubbed China’s real-life Walter White by mainland media, due to his likeness with Breaking Bad’s protagonist who swaps a career as a talented but struggling chemistry teacher for a life of manufacturing methamphetamine and drug dealing.
Zhang first learned of the popularity of psychoactive drugs while teaching in Australia as a visiting academic.
