China executes 10 vegetable thieves

China executes 10 vegetable thieves
REUTERS

BEIJING, JAN 15: China has executed 10 people for stealing vegetables worth 100,000 Yuan ($12,080) on the island of Hainan, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday.

Brandishing guns and knives, one group of four robbed more than 10 vegetable trucks between 1996 and 1999 after setting up road blocks and planting steel nails on the main road to the market on the tropical island, Xinhua said.

Six more people convicted of vegetable robbery between February and July of last year were also executed, it said.

According to Amnesty International, China executed at least 18,000 people in 1990s--more than the rest of the world combined.

Most Chinese executions are carried out with a small-calibre bullet fired into the back of the head, although authorities are experimenting with lethal injections in some regions. ($1=8.276 Yuan)