Nor Kham sentenced to death for Mekong killings
Beijing - A court in south-western China sentenced alleged Golden Triangle drug lord Nor Kham and three accomplices to death on Tuesday after convicting them of murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong river.
The four were convicted of murder, drug trafficking, kidnapping and hijacking, the official Xinhua news agency quoted the court in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, as saying.
The three accomplices sentenced to death were a Thai citizen, a Lao citizen and one stateless person, according to earlier reports.
Two other members of Nor Kham's gang, both Myanmar citizens, were each given a suspended death sentence and eight years in prison for their involvement in the same crimes, the agency said.
It said all six defendants told the court they planned to appeal their sentences. During his trial in September, Myanmar citizen Nor Kham reportedly claimed that Thai soldiers were solely responsible for the murders in November 2011, after Chinese police said they believed his gang had colluded with Thai soldiers.
Two other members of Nor Kham's gang, both Myanmar citizens, were each given a suspended death sentence and eight years in prison for their involvement in the same crimes, the agency said.
It said all six defendants told the court they planned to appeal their sentences. During his trial in September, Myanmar citizen Nor Kham reportedly claimed that Thai soldiers were solely responsible for the murders in November 2011, after Chinese police said they believed his gang had colluded with Thai soldiers.
But the five co-defendants admitted the charges against them and told the court that Nor Kham, 44, planned and led the attack on two Chinese ships, the reports said.
The semi-official China News Service said Nor Kham initially denied any involvement in the case when questioned in court, despite reportedly confessing his involvement to police, but he later pleaded guilty to the charges.
He was extradited from Laos to China in May following joint operations by police from Thailand, Laos and China.
Xian Yanming, Yunnan's deputy police chief, told the China Daily newspaper in September that Nor Kham's gang had "colluded with renegade Thai soldiers in premeditated attacks on Chinese ships." They wanted to "make it appear that the (Thai) authorities had uncovered a major drug-related case" by planting drugs on the ships and pretending that the Chinese sailors were drug traffickers whodied in a shoot-out, Xian said.
