Three people were executed Thursday for smuggling and trafficking 10.5 kilograms of heroin by the Intermediate People's Court of Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The court also deprived Yang Naijun, Liu Tianshun and Du Songhua, the executed drug traffickers, of their political rights for life and confiscated all their personal property.

The court found that Liu Tianshun, together with Yang Naijun, Du Songhua, Li Quanfa and Li Quanxi, formed drug smuggling and trafficking operation in 2002.

Liu, Du and Li Quanfa, who was in charge of transport, were captured by police when they tried to move 7.118 kilograms of heroin into Xi'an on January 11, 2004. Yang Naijun and Li Quanxi were arrested by police later. Li Hongyun, another member of the gang, was still at large.

Previously, they had trafficked more than three kilograms of heroin from Myanmar.

The Intermediate People's Court of Xi'an sentenced Yang, Liu and Du to death on charges of smuggling and trafficking at the first instance on Nov. 18, 2004. The court sentenced Li Quanfa to death with a stay of execution for drug trafficking, and Li Quanxi was imprisoned for 15 years for transporting drugs.

Yang, Liu and Li Quanfa appealed to the higher court but were rejected by the Shaanxi Provincial Higher People's Court on March 28, 2005. The Supreme People's Court approved the execution of the three drug traffickers on July 28 this year.

(Xinhua News Agency September 30, 2005)