Golden Triangle drug lord Naw Kham and three associates will be executed Friday in Yunnan province, Chinese media reported Thursday.
The trial of the Golden Triangle drug lord Naw Kham (right) and five associates was largely an open-and-shut case, and resulted in a death sentence last November.
A report by China Economic Net said the Kunming Intermediate People's Court set the execution date on Wednesday.
The executions will be by lethal injection, the court ordered.
Naw Kham, a Shan drug trafficker who helped turn the Golden Triangle drug trade from opium to methamphetamines, was captured in a Chinese drug sting last year and tried for the murders of 13 Mekong River sailors in a drug deal in 2011.
Along with the drug lord, three other men will be executed, the court ordered: Thai citizen Hsang Kham, Zha Xika, who holds Lao nationality, and Yi Lai, who is described by the court as stateless.
The Thai and Myanmar consuls in Kunming have been granted permission to talk with the condemned citizens of their countries. Relatives have been notified and allowed to meet, Chinese media said.
After the execution, the court will hand over their remains, wills and personal belongings to their relatives or relevant consulates.
The court's announcement kept up the Chinese pressure on Thailand in the case. It said Naw Kham and his gang "masterminded and colluded with Thai soldiers in an attack on two Chinese cargo ships, the Hua Ping and Yu Xing 8, on Oct. 5, 2011 on the Mekong River".
Beijing has pressed Thailand in a number of ways to formally arrest and try Thai troops who allegedly pulled the trigger on the Chinese sailors, in a case that shocked and enraged China.
Officially, Thai authorities are investigating the case.
According to evidence at Naw Kham's trial, he masterminded the kidnapping of Chinese sailors and hijacked cargo ships in exchange for ransom.
Naw Kham directed the largest armed drug trafficking gang in Southeast Asia before his arrest. But his trial and imminent execution have had little effect on trafficking in the region.
Huge seizures of drugs from the Golden Triangle continue in Thailand, India and China. On Thursday, Australia announced a record seizure of crystal methamphetamine or ya ice that orginated from the Golden Triangle region.