China kills 57 on anti-drug day

Chinese police burn drugs seized in the past few months at the Kunming stadium.

BEIJING, China -- China has executed at least 57 people for drug crimes and staged mass rallies to mark a U.N. anti-drug day.

In the country's biggest gathering, thousands of spectators attended a rally at a stadium in Kunming, capital of southwestern Yunnan province, where 20 alleged drug traffickers were sentenced to death.

The executions were carried out immediately afterward at a separate location, a Kunming police official told The Associated Press.

Chinese police have carried out hundreds of executions since April under a renewed crime crackdown that allows speeded up trials and broader use of the death penalty.

Executions in China are usually carried out by a gunshot to the back of the head.

Nationwide executions

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In the lead-up to the anti-drug day, police have executed a number of drug smugglers across the country.

Also on Tuesday, eight people in the central city of Wuhan and five people on the southern island of Hainan were executed for drug trafficking.

Yunnan police executed Li Shaoju, a citizen of Myanmar, on Monday for smuggling more than 300 pounds of heroin, opium, and morphine from Myanmar to China, newspapers reported.

Meanwhile in coastal Fujian province, five Taiwanese citizens were executed on Monday for attempting to smuggle crystal methamphetamine -- also known as "ice" -- across the strait to Taiwan.

Eighteen heroin traffickers were also executed Monday in Chongqing, a city in southwestern China, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Crackdown

Police parade prisoners during an execution rally at the Kunming stadium

In the first five months of the year, China has already detained 15,000 suspected drug dealers, and seized 2.2 tons of heroin, 1.2 tons of opium, and 2 tons of "ice," state media has reported.

"Ice" and Ecstacy have proved to be big hits.

They are being produced in ever larger amounts, Jia Chunwang, the Minister of Public Security said in comments published in the English-language China Daily.

The number of registered drug addicts in China has risen from 681,000 in 1999 to 860,000 in 2000, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.