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Seven smugglers executed
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SEVEN people were executed on Friday in connection with China's largest ever smuggling case, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
The seven were executed in three separate cities after a court in the eastern province of Fujian rejected their appeals, the agency said.
They were among 14 government officials and others sentenced to death by courts in southeastern China for their role in what has been described as the biggest smuggling case yet in China.
Among those executed on Friday was Ye Jichen, president of the Xiamen branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, who was convicted of accepting 2.9 million yuan (US$349,000) in bribes and having 4.9 million yuan in unaccounted funds.
Also executed was Wu Yubo, a Xiamen customs official convicted of receiving 8.7 million yuan in bribes, Xinhua said.
The 14 people sentenced to death in November were among a group of more than 80 accused over a smuggling racket worth billions of dollars.
During the four-year operation run by the Yuan Hua Group, a total of 53 billion yuan of goods were smuggled, costing the state 30 billion yuan in lost tax revenue.(SD-Agencies)
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