Japanesenarcotics smuggler executed

BEIJING - Mitsunobu Akano, a Japanese national, was executed on Tuesday morning after he was convicted of attempting to smuggle drugs from China to Japan in 2006, announced the Supreme People's Court (SPC).

"The courts had clear and irrefutable evidence of drug smuggling and the death sentence was handed down and carried out in line with Chinese law," the SPC said in an announcement on Tuesday confirming the execution.

Akano became the first Japanese citizen to be executed by China since the two countries normalized diplomatic relations in 1972.