THE owner of a snack shop was sentenced to death yesterday after he confessed to killing at least 38 people by poisoning a rival’s food in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, a court official said.

　　Chen Zhengping was sentenced yesterday morning after a trial in the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court, according to an official in the criminal court division.

　　The poisonings Sept. 15 also sickened up to 300 people.

　　China News Service’s Web site reported that, as Chen was taken to court amid heavy security, residents lined the road to watch and praised authorities for acting swiftly. More than 20 police vehicles formed a convoy to escort Chen to court.

　　After an intensive manhunt, Chen was apprehended Sept. 16 aboard a train in Zhengzhou, about 600 kilometers northwest of Nanjing.

　　Chen, the owner of a rival snack shop, confessed a day later to spreading the poison. He said he resented his rival’s success.

　　Tests on the Nanjing food identified the substance as a brand of rat poison called Dushuqiang, which has been banned for sale in China since the mid-1990s, according to the Nanjing Agriculture and Forestry Bureau, which said it is still widely available in rural areas from illegal producers. <2001>(SD-Agencies)

　　(SD-Agencies)