Six people, including two former Customs chiefs, were executed in Guangdong yesterday after losing their appeals in the mainland's biggest smuggling case.
Cao Xiukang, former director of Customs in Zhanjiang, and Zhu Xiangcheng, in charge of the investigation division, were among those put to death.
Three smugglers from Hong Kong - identified as Lee Shen, Deng Chongan and Zhang Yi, a woman - and Lin Chunhua, one of their partners on the mainland, were also executed after their appeals were rejected by the Supreme People's Court.
According to Xinhua, Cao was found to have taken bribes worth 2.4 million yuan (HK$2.2 million) from smugglers, while Zhu was found to have accepted more than 6.2 million yuan in cash and gifts.
The six were among 31 people sentenced by separate courts in Guangzhou, Zhanjiang, Maoming, Shenzhen and Fushan last month.
Twelve appealed to the Supreme People's Court last month, claiming their sentences were not proportional to their crimes and that they had surrendered themselves and volunteered information leading to the arrests of others.
The Supreme People's Court said the six who were executed had committed crimes that were too serious to warrant leniency.