China on Thursday jailed nine people for selling fentanyl to Americans, the result of a landmark joint probe, and pledged further co-operation following President Donald Trump’s fury at Beijing’s perceived inaction against Chinese suppliers fuelling the deadly U.S. opioid crisis.
Despite Mr. Trump’s criticism that Beijing had reneged on its promise to crack down on the production of the drug, China said it was “willing to conduct sincere and concrete anti-drug cooperation” with the U.S. to tackle fentanyl trafficking.
100 deaths a day
U.S. authorities say the synthetic opioid — which can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin — causes more than 100 deaths a day in the United States. The court in northern Hebei province described the case as the first successful joint U.S.-Chinese probe related to fentanyl smuggling, and U.S. officials also hailed the verdict.
Of the nine people jailed in Hebei, one was given a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, which generally means a life term. Two others received life terms for trafficking fentanyl and alprazolam.
