China sentences 2 men for trafficking drug precursor chemicals

A court in Wuhan, China sentenced two men to prison for illegally trafficking controlled precursor chemicals abroad, state-run media reported Tuesday.

A man surnamed Xia received a six-year prison term, while his son got five and a half years for illegal operations, according to Xinhua News Agency.

The court found that the pair organized the sale of 123 batches of controlled stimulant-related chemicals worth about 1.69 million yuan ($250,717).

The case came to the attention of Chinese authorities after the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported a related trafficking case involving sensitive chemicals to China’s Ministry of Public Security in 2023.