Two Chinese men have been handed the death penalty for their part in a contaminated milk scam in their native country.

Nineteen other employees of the Sanlu dairy were jailed.

The former boss of Sanlu was sentenced to life imprisonment.

SIX DEAD, THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND ILL

The Sanlu employees, who were responsible for adding melamine to raw milk in order to make it appear higher in protein, stood accused of the deaths of six babies.

Additionally, it is believed that the contaminated milk left around three hundred thousand people ill.

Sanlu had allowed around 900 tonnes of the milk to leave their dairies, even though they knew it was toxic.

The Sanlu company were fined 50m yuan (approx $7.3m) though they are unlikely to pay as they have already been declared bankrupt.

DEATH PENALTY

The court sentenced Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping to death for their part in the scam.

Zhang Yujun stood accused of running an illegal workshop in the Shandong province of eastern China where the majority of the tainted milk (600 tonnes) was produced.

Milk producer Geng Jinping received his sentence of death for producing and selling the toxic food to dairy companies.

Another conspirator, Gao Junjie, received a suspended death sentence for selling protein powder to the milk producers.

Article by Lee Munson

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