38 drug dealers sentenced

Police authorities display large quantities of drugs that have been seized in the past 12 months at Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court yesterday, International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Local police have confiscated 2.76 tons of drugs since last June. China News Service

Three drug traffickers were sentenced to death and another four were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve by Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court yesterday, International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

One of the three had been previously sentenced and executed while the other two were executed yesterday.

A total of 12 defendants in six cases stood for the first-instance trial. Seven of them were sentenced to jail terms of between eight and 15 years, the Office of Shenzhen Narcotics Control Commission said yesterday.

Across the city, courts handed down verdicts on 38 defendants in open trials in 25 drug-trafficking cases yesterday.

In the past 12 months, Shenzhen courts have handled a total of 1,924 drug-related cases, a decrease of 9.6 percent over the previous period, accounting for 7.75 percent of criminal cases, statistics from Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court showed. A total of 2,241 defendants were convicted and 346 of them were sentenced.

During the period, Shenzhen police have seized 2.76 tons of drugs, uncovered nearly 1,800 drug cases and detained more than 2,560 drug dealers, Deng Guangsheng, chief of the narcotics control department under the public security bureau, said at a news conference.

In April, police busted a large drug smuggling and trade case and arrested eight suspects in four raids. Among them, five suspects were members of overseas mafia-style organizations. A total of 118 kilograms of cocaine were seized.

Shenzhen Customs also filed 228 narcotics smuggling cases , seized 863 kilograms of narcotics in the past 12 months and transferred 183 suspects for prosecution.

In crackdown campaigns taking place between 2013 to 2018 nationwide, Chinese police solved around 850,000 drug-related cases and busted 34,000 criminal organizations involved in drug manufacturing and dealing.

They also apprehended more than 1 million crime suspects and confiscated a total of 482 tons of drugs, Xinhua News Agency said yesterday.

China has established annual drug control meeting mechanisms with 13 countries as well as liaison offices in countries such as Myanmar, Vietnam and Mongolia.

Intelligence exchanges and law enforcement cooperation with the United States, Russia, Canada and New Zealand have also been enhanced.

As of the end of 2018, there were 39,000 community-based drug detoxification and rehabilitation centers across China.

Over 2 million former drug users have not relapsed for three years since rehabilitation, 2.3 times the number in 2013.

A total of 770,000 former drug users had been helped in finding employment and starting new lives.

China’s compulsory rehabilitation centers have treated more than 1.44 million drug addicts over the past 11 years, the Ministry of Justice said yesterday.

China had 370 compulsory drug rehab centers by the end of 2018, the ministry said, adding that the number of registered drug addicts stood at 214,300. Nearly 90 percent were male and more than 88 percent were under the age of 50.

In December 1987, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution to observe June 26 as International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.