Zhou Kun, a police officer-turned drug trafficker, was given a two-year suspended death sentence Monday in Wuhan, capital of central Hubei Province while other members of a gang of traffickers were sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from seven years to life.

Li Xuejun and Su Xingchang, both gang members, were sentenced to life imprisonment, while Yu Mingda and Xia Bing were sentenced to 15 and seven years respectively for their roles in trafficking and selling some 5,000 kg of heroin, according to Zhengzhou railway intermediate court.

Zhou said he was satisfied with the initial ruling and had no plan to appeal to the Higher People's Court of Henan Province.

Zhou was charged with trafficking and selling 5,000 kg of heroin in three different cases in 2002.

In November 2002, the railway police department of the Kunming Railway Bureau caught two traffickers on the No. T62 passenger train. They told the police that they were acting under the direction of Zhou, who was the head of the anti-drug brigade of Shuicheng County, Guizhou Province, southwest China.

Zhou was arrested by the railway police department of the Wuhan Railway Bureau under Zhengzhou Railway Bureau in January this year. Zhou confessed that he had smuggled narcotics with other people many times.

Zhou had been an anti-drug hero who captured over 1,000 drug smugglers and more than 50,000 grams of narcotics. In 2000, he was rewarded the title of "National Advanced Worker" for his remarkable contributions in the nationwide fight against drug trafficking.

(Xinhua News Agency November 3, 2003)