CHONGQING - A court on Monday handed down the death penalty to the former deputy head of the anti-narcotics efforts in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality.

Luo Li, a former deputy chief of the anti-drug brigade of the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau, was found guilty on charges of murder, graft and drug trafficking.

According to a statement from the No 1 Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing, he had been collaborating with drug dealers in Chongqing since 2005.

He took 1.2 million yuan ($182,300) in bribes in exchange for turning a blind eye to the illicit activities of two of the dealers.

The two drug dealers, Ao Xingman and Zhou Guangquan, also were sentenced to death.

The court investigation found the two drug dealers trafficked in more than 120,000 grams of heroin from 1997 to 2010, the statement said.

And at Luo's instigation, Ao and three accomplices murdered Zhang Hao, a drug trafficker who threatened to produce evidence against Luo after his request for protection was rejected. Zhang was shot dead on his way home in July 2002.

Three other members of Ao's ring received jail terms ranging from two to 15 years, the statement said.

It did not say whether Luo or the drug traffickers would appeal the ruling. In China, all death sentences are automatically reviewed by the Supreme People's Court, the highest judicial panel.

Luo was one of the police officers ensnared in a recent crackdown on gang crime in Chongqing. More than 3,300 people were detained and hundreds prosecuted in the campaign.

Xinhua - Reuters