4 foreigners could face the death penalty in China after their arrests in connection with a major heroin bust, a report said Thursday, days after the execution of a Briton convicted on drugs charges.
The foreigners are among 9 people arrested in September in southern China after police uncovered about 145 kilograms (320 pounds) of heroin stuffed inside cotton bales, the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao newspaper reported.
The paper did not specify the nationalities of the 4 foreigners.
"Under Chinese law they may face the most extreme penalty," the report said, referring to the death penalty.
The paper said the arrests marked the largest heroin smuggling case uncovered by Chinese authorities in recent years.
Police were tipped off to the smugglers' plan and waited at a warehouse in Guangzhou, a city several hours' drive northwest of Hong Kong, seizing 289 bags of high-grade heroin, the report said.
The report said that the amount of drugs smuggled into China by international syndicates in the fourth quarter of 2009 jumped 3 to 5 times compared to the same period in previous years.
The execution of Briton Akmal Shaikh, 53, on Tuesday sparked a diplomatic row between Beijing and London, which accused China of ignoring evidence that Shaikh was mentally ill and duped into smuggling for a criminal gang.
He was arrested 2 years ago in China's far-west Xinjiang region after customs officials found four kilograms (9 pounds) of heroin in his bags.
China regularly executes drug smugglers, but Shaikh was the 1st European national to receive the death penalty in China in more than 50 years, according to London-based charity Reprieve.
Source: Agence France-Presse, December 31, 2009
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