A MEXICAN drug dealer and three of his Chinese accomplices were given the death penalty in Hunan on Friday.

    A total of nine people were sentenced for selling and producing illicit drugs in a remote pig farm at Chenzhou, Central China’s Hunan Province.

    The two chief criminals, Carlos from Mexico and Lei Minghua from Hong Kong, were sentenced to death. Another two were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, and the other three given 15 years in prison.

    Over one ton of methamphetamine and caffeine were found by police in the drug lab during a raid in 2012. It was estimated 100 kilograms of drugs had already been sold before the dealers were arrested.

    Police from Hunan Public Security Department said this is the biggest drug bust in the province since 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was founded.

    Originally, two Mexican technicians were part of the gang in 2012, the Global Times reported. One left after installing the equipment for producing the drugs. Carlos remained to watch over production.

    The drugs were intended to be sold in Japan, Australia, Indonesia and China, the Global Times reported.

    Over 50 people, including representatives from the Consulate General of the United Mexican States in Guangzhou, attended the court hearing.(Xinhua)