More time after bars for ‘Walter White from China’

Compiled by Charles Ramendran, C. Aruno and R. Aravinthan

A chemistry teacher, nicknamed “The Walter White of China”, the sentence was increased from 11 to 15 years after prosecutors imposed additional charges for manufacturing, exporting, smuggling and selling drugs, China Press reported.

Zhang Zhengbo, associate professor at the Huazhong University in Wuhan, was initially sentenced to 11 years in May 2023 for directing an illegal business.

After a new trial, the prosecutors accused him of manufacturing, exporting, smuggling and selling drugs. As a result, his sentence was reviewed at 15 years.

It was reported that Zhang and his former classmate began a chemical company registered as a pharmaceutical intermediary manufacturer. However, what they did was produce metcatinone, a popular psychostimulant similar to amphetamine, and distribute it abroad.

He was arrested in 2015 after Customs found drugs in a package for export and paved his laboratory.

The authorities discovered that Zhang and his company had manufactured and sold more than 110 kilograms of psychotropic drugs, having earned more than $ 600,000 US dollars (2.6 million ringgit) per month in that period.

Once the news of Zhang’s illegal company was known, the “Walter White of China” was nicknamed in honor of the main character of the popular television series Breaking Bad, who was also a chemistry professor and became a drug manufacturer .

The previous articles are collected from vernacular newspapers (newspapers Bahasa Malaysio, Chinese and Tamil). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. When a paragraph begins with>, it indicates separate news.