Foreign drug traffickers sentenced in South China

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-23 15:34

GUANGZHOU -- Four foreigners received sentences on Thursday for trafficking heroine in South China's Guangdong Province.

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court convicted people from Uganda, the Republic of Benin, Nigeria and the Philippines.

Awor Ocer Lucy, from Uganda, was caught by customs authorities at the Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, the provincial capital, in April. She was carrying 2,080 g of powdered heroin in her luggage. The 42-year-old was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, meaning her penalty will be changed to life imprisonment after two years if she demonstrates good behavior.

Sunday Ogbonna Okah, 28, from Nigeria was caught with 59 pills of heroin in his body. The drugs weighed 977 g.

Bernard Sogbossi, 35, from Benin, swallowed 20 pills weighing 262 g. The two were arrested separately in April at the Baiyun Airport. Both were sentenced to life in prison.

Philippine national Balachawi Vilma Tuguinay was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The 31-year-old woman entered China through the Shenzhen Airport in February and then went to Guangzhou by bus. She had to turn to doctors for help as she could not excrete the 16 pills of heroin, weighing 128.9 g, in her stomach. Doctors had to operate to get the drugs out.