Smuggling kingpin Lai heads to life term Lai Changxing (File Photo) By Li Min, Sina English Lai Changxing, a notorious smuggling ring king...

Smuggling kingpin Lai heads to life term

Lai Changxing (File Photo)

By Li Min, Sina English

Lai Changxing, a notorious smuggling ring kingpin, begins to serve life sentence for smuggling and bribery, as he decided not to lodge an appeal, the Intermediate People's Court of Xiamen in Fujian Province said yesterday. Lai didn't file an appeal within 10 days after the verdict was announced on May 18, Xinhua news agency reported.Lai formed a smuggling ring with bases in Hong Kong and Xiamen in 1991, importing cigarettes, cars and other commodities worth 27.395 billion yuan (US$3.69 billion) and evaded duties of nearly 14 billion yuan from December 1995 to May 1999, prosecutors told the court at his trial.Once China's No. 1 fugitive, Lai fled to Canada in mid-1999 and remained there for 12 years till was handed over to China on July 23, 2011.