Japanese man given death sentence in China for drug smuggling

A Japanese man has been sentenced to death by a court in Dalian, northeastern China, on charges of trying to smuggle 1.5 kilograms of stimulant drugs to Japan in 2003, Japanese officials said Friday. The man, only identified as a person in his 40s, pleaded not guilty and plans to appeal the ruling, according to the officials of the Dalian Branch Office of the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang.

The defendant was detained at Dalian airport in July 2003 over alleged possession of the drugs when he was about to board a flight to Osaka, they said. He was quoted as saying somebody asked him to carry them and that he did not know they were stimulant drugs.