27 executed on anti-drug day
27/06/2006 16:49  - (SA)  

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Beijing - China executed at least 27 people for drug trafficking and sentenced up to 12 others to death for the same offence to mark international anti-drug day, state press reported on Tuesday.

In southern Kunming city on Monday, 10 convicted drug traffickers were paraded in front of the public before being sent to execution grounds where their death sentences were carried out, the Yunnan Daily reported.

"As Kunming is very close to the golden triangle, our city has become the battleground in our nation's war against drugs," the paper quoted vice-mayor Tian Yunxiang as saying at the rally.

"The people of our city should actively participate in the war against drugs and help the police catch suspected drug traffickers."

Poppy growing region

The golden triangle is one of the world's most productive poppy growing regions bordering Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, all countries that neighbour China's Yunnan province.

Also on Monday, four other drug traffickers were put to death in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna near the border with Laos, while three were executed in Chongqing municipality north of Yunnan, local news reports said.

Five drug traffickers were also executed in Hangzhou city, capital of eastern China's Zhejiang province, Shanghai's Oriental Morning Post reported.

On Monday, Xinhua news agency reported four traffickers were executed in eastern Jiangsu province, while one drug trafficker was executed in southern Guangdong province on June 23.

Drug use on the rise

Meanwhile courts throughout China sentenced at least 12 people to death at trials that were also held on Monday, with three of the convicted given two year reprieves on their execution, reports said.

Last week Beijing announced illicit drug use was on the rise in China, with international cartels flooding the nation with heroin as well as new synthetic drugs.

China executes more convicted criminals every year than the rest of the world combined, with Chinese legal scholars

actual number remains a state secret.

- AFP

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