One man was sentenced to death and nine others to terms of up to life imprisonment for trafficking 12.4 tons of crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," the largest amount of the drug ever seized by law enforcement officials in the world.

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court in south China's Guangdong Province announced the verdict on October 10.

The case, first ferreted out in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces in July 1999, involved more than 200 kg of heroin as well as the ice. The amount of ice seized was equivalent to the total weight of the drug seized worldwide in 1998, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The main defendant, Zhang Qisheng, fled to Thailand traveling on a fake passport in November 1999, but was arrested about three years later.

The trial began in November 2003, and the court handed down the sentence after several hearings.

Zhang and his wife Zhang Shaoxian appealed immediately. The other defendants did not appeal.

(Xinhua News Agency October 12, 2004