China Executes 27 Narcotics Traffickers

Chinese authorities executed at least 27 drug traffickers Friday and burned tons of opium and heroin to dramatize their war on drug smuggling.

Public sentencing rallies, at which crowds often chant “Kill! Kill!” when the smugglers are led in, were held in cities across China.

Twenty-one drug traffickers were executed in Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan province, where the drug problem is most serious, the official New China News Agency said.

Six people were led directly from the sentencing rallies to the execution ground in northwest China’s Gansu province, the national television news reported. Execution in China is with a bullet to the head.

Drug trafficking and addiction have become serious problems in China in recent years after having been virtually eliminated in the early years of Communist rule in the 1950s.

The government hopes to repeat that achievement by tightening border controls and handing down harsh sentences to anyone caught trafficking.

Friday’s rallies were timed for International Anti-Drug Abuse Day, held each June 26. China executed a total of 88 convicted drug smugglers on that date in 1990 and 1991 and sentenced dozens more to prison.