Drug lord loses appeal against death

A Guangdong court has upheld a death sentence against a drug kingpin repatriated from Thailand, Xinhua reported yesterday.

Chen Bingxi , 52, was guilty of overseeing the production and trafficking of 12.36 tonnes of methamphetamine and the sale and trafficking of more than 100kg of heroin in 1998 and 1999, Guangdong Higher People's Court said at the end of a seven-month appeal hearing.

The court also upheld lower-court convictions and sentences against five accomplices, including Chen's wife, Chen Baoyu .

Xinhua described the case as the world's biggest in terms of the manufacture of methamphetamine, with the amount of the drug seized in 1999 in connection with the case matching total seizures for the rest of the world that year.

The death sentence will be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court, as mainland law requires.

The case was originally heard in Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court in 2006, and six of the nine convicted, including the couple, appealed to the higher court, Xinhua reported.

Chen Baoyu was sentenced to 111/2 years in jail for helping to manufacture methamphetamine illegally, and two accomplices were given suspended death sentences.

The couple fled to Thailand in 1999 but were repatriated in late 2003.

Under the law, those found guilty of making or dealing in 50 grams of methamphetamine can face a death sentence.