China sends 10 Indian traders to jail

Ten of the 22 Indian traders,charged with smuggling diamonds worth 7.3 million into China,were on Wednesday sentenced to prison terms ranging from 23 months to six years by a Shenzhen court,which ordered the deportation of the remaining 12.

The Shenzhen Intermediate Peoples Court,which conducted the trial of the traders,most of them from Gujarat,sentenced one of them to six years; two to five years each; one to three years and six months; and five to three years each,Indian officials,who attended the court proceedings,told PTI in Beijing. Another trader was sentenced to one year and eleven months in jail. The court ordered the deportation of the remaining 12,an official said.

Some traders were fined.

In New Delhi,spokesperson of the MEA Vishnu Prakash said,We have noted the judgment by a court in Shenzhen,China,on 22 Indian nationals on charges of diamond smuggling and money laundering. Twelve of them will be deported from China in 15 days and will return to India.