A husband and wife have been sentenced to death and life in prison respectively in southeast China's Jiangxi Province on Wednesday of making and trafficking drugs, according to local sources.

Hu Wei, 37-year-old chemist, who worked in a testing center of a local college, was convicted of making 30.86 kilograms of Ketamine, a powerful hallucinogen also known as Special K.

The court said it showed leniency in sentencing Hu to life in prison because she is pregnant. The court also fined Hu 100,000 yuan (12,500 yuan).

Her husband, Liu Jun, also 37, was sentenced to death for making and trafficking the drugs.

The couple began their research on drug production in 2000 when Hu, working in the university's testing center, developed Ecstasy and sold the formula to Chen Jiajie with 500,000 yuan (62,500 U.S. dollars).

Liu Jun later twice visited Chen's factory in Myanmar for technical support.

In 2002 the couple again met Chen and sold him a formula for making the street drug known as "ice".

The husband and wife started their own factory in October 2004 and hired their relatives.

When they were arrested last February, police found almost seven kg of Ketamine in their factory and their home. The court heard that Liu sold 24.5 kg of the drug from April to November last year.

Chen Jiajie has been arrested and will soon stand trail.

Source: Xinhua