Drug trafficker given suspended death sentence

A 38-year-old woman was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for drug trafficking by a court in Beijing on Thursday.

According to the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court, Wang Xue, a Beijing resident, was found to have concealed 616.39 grams of methamphetamine, also known as "ice," in her bag at the Beijing West Railway Station after she took a train from Chengdu in Sichuan Province to Beijing on December 2 last year.

The Legal Mirror reported Thursday that she spent 130,000 yuan ($20,706) purchasing nine bags of the drug from a dealer in Chengdu.

"Since Wang previously received a jail sentence for drug trafficking, she was given the death penalty with reprieve," a court media officer, surnamed Zhang, told the Global Times Thursday.

Although Wang's lawyers said she rendered a meritorious service by exposing over 30 drug traffickers, the court did not recognize her contribution due to the absence of evidence.

Wang reportedly gave financial support to a child with cerebral palsy with the money she received from smuggling the drugs.

"My child died and I can't get pregnant anymore. When I saw a poor child suffering from cerebral palsy, I decided to help that family. I gave nearly 80 percent of the 'profits' I got from the business to help the child," she was quoted by the Legal Mirror as saying.

Zhu Yonghui, a lawyer from the King & Capital Law Firm based in Beijing, told the Global Times that the woman had been given a "light sentence."

"A person who smuggles over 50 grams of cocaine would usually be sentenced to life imprisonment or death. [Wang] could probably have been given a harsher punishment," Zhu said.