Four gun smugglers were sentenced to death on Thursday at their
first trial by a local court in northwest China's Qinghai
Province, according to court sources.
Four others were sentenced to death with two years' suspension
and one other got life imprisonment, said sources from the
Intermediate People's Court of Haidong Prefecture.
Five more smugglers were sentenced to imprisonment of between 14
and 15 years.
The 14 gun smugglers, led by Ma Zeying and Li Zhi, were
convicted of having smuggled 914 guns and 1,556 gun components from
Pakistan to China between 1995 and 2004.
It is the biggest cross-border weapon smuggling case since the
founding of the People's Republic of China, sources said.
The four criminals who received death penalties, Ma Zeying, Ma
Qi, Li Zhi and Tan Zhenming, smuggled 469, 365, 265 and 232 guns,
respectively.
The case was filed for investigation by the Qinghai Provincial
Department of Public Security?in August 2004.
(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2005)