BEIJING, Sept 22 (Reuters) - A Burmese drug runner and five
members of his gang have pleaded guilty in a Chinese court to
murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River, state media
said, in a case that has marked China's growing law enforcement
role beyond its borders.
Naw Kham was extradited to China by Laos officials in May,
the chief suspect in the killings of Chinese boat crews last
year in the "Golden Triangle" region known for drug smuggling
where the borders of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet.
It was one of the deadliest assaults on Chinese nationals
overseas in modern times and caused Beijing to send gunboat
patrols to the region downstream from its borders.
Naw Kham, in his 40s, pleaded guilty at the Intermediate
People's Court of Kunming in southwest China during a two-day
trial in which he "expressed his penitence to the victims and
their families", the official Xinhua news agency said late on
Friday.
"Prosecutors showed irrefutable and sufficient evidence of
the criminal offences, including the six defendants'
confessions, witness testimonies, DNA test results, and autopsy
reports."
Naw Kham denied plotting the attack on Thursday, but the
five other defendants, all foreign nationals, testified that he
was the gang's leader, the news agency said.
The six suspects faced charges of intentional homicide, drug
trafficking, kidnapping and hijacking. The court has yet to
announce a date for the sentencing.
Xinhua said Naw Kham was "hoping for leniency" and that the
other defendants were "begging for lighter punishment" in
pleading guilty.
The 13 Chinese sailors aboard two cargo ships were killed
after being hijacked on a lawless stretch of the Mekong River
last October.
A Reuters investigation in January showed that some, if not
all, of the sailors were still alive when their boats crossed
into Thailand, and that they were executed and tossed overboard
inside Thai territory.
The Mekong snakes from China into Southeast Asia, where it
forms the border between Myanmar and Laos, and then Thailand and
Laos. In 2001, the four countries signed an agreement to
regularise shipping on the river.
All Chinese shipping on the Mekong was suspended after the
murders, which sparked outrage in China. The incident was
followed by Chinese patrols and strengthened security
cooperation among the four countries.
The patrols have been seen as an expansion of Beijing's
growing role in regional security, extending its law enforcement
down the highly strategic waterway and into Southeast Asia.
(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Ron Popeski)