Drug trafficking or drug smuggling could face death penalty in Guangzhou
In Guangzhou, our Guangzhou criminal defense lawyer defines illegal drugs to be related to crime in multiple ways. Most directly, it is a crime to use, possess, manufacture, or distribute drugs classified as having a potential for abuse (such as cocaine, heroin, morphine and amphetamines). Drugs are also related to crime as drug trafficking and drug production are often controlled by drug cartels, organized crime and gangs.
Four foreigners may be executed in connection with one of the biggest drug-trafficking cases of this southern city bordering Hong Kong, according to Shenzhen Customs.
"The procuratorate of Shenzhen is ratifying the arrest of the four foreigners," Wang Yao, a customs press official, told China Daily yesterday. He gave no details about their nationalities.
The foreigners, along with five other suspects, have been in custody since they were caught for allegedly smuggling 144.5 kg of heroin from Pakistan in September, Wang said.
They are believed to be members of the same transnational drug-trafficking gang, according to Wang.
Customs officers got intelligence on Aug 20 that heroin would be stored in two containers of cotton yarn from Pakistan headed to Shekou port of Shenzhen.
While detecting no drugs in the first targeted container on Aug 22, the anti-smuggling enforcement team checked the second one arriving on Sept 2 and found 289 packs of heroin, each weighing 0.5 kg, hidden inside 6,720 rolls of cotton yarn.
After taking out the drugs, the officers let the goods continue to their destination - a warehouse in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong province and a one-hour train ride from Shenzhen.
One of the foreigners approached the goods on Sept 18 and was caught immediately.
The Hong Kong-based newspaper Ta Kung Pao reported yesterday that the chief of the transnational drug-trafficking gang was arrested in early December by customs in Pakistan.
China's Criminal Law stipulates that people trafficking more than 50 g of heroin are punishable by death.
The concept of drug-related crime has been criticized for being too blunt, especially in its failure to distinguish between three types of crime associated with drugs:
1. Use-Related crime: These are crimes that result from or involve individuals who ingest drugs, and who commit crimes as a result of the effect the drug has on their thought processes and behavior.
2. Economic-Related crime: These are crimes where an individual commits a crime in order to fund a drug habit. These include theft and prostitution.
3. System-Related crime: These are crimes that result from the structure of the drug system. They include production, manufacture, transportation, and sale of drugs, as well as violence related to the production or sale of drugs, such as a turf war.
Drug-related crime may be used as a justification for prohibition, but, in the case of system-related crime, the acts are only crimes because of prohibition. In addition, some consider even user-related and economic-related aspects of crime as symptomatic of a broader problem, clarification needed and the China government administration considers drug use as criminal problem, rather than a health problem.
If you or your relative are facing a drug trafficking or drug smuggling charge in Guangzhou, please contact our Guangzhou criminal defense lawyer and we will provide the best defense you can find in town.