‘I miss my mom. I don't want my children to be like me. I am afraid of death': Final whimper of drug lord as he is executed with three accomplices after being paraded on TV in China

Foreign inmates condemned to death for murder of 13 Chinese fishermen

CCTV News showed footage of men about to be taken to execution site

Broadcast condemned as insensitive by critics in China

Bodies of 13 fishermen found inside cargo ships on Mekong river in 2011

China says killers launched attack in collusion with Thai soldiers

Burmese drug kingpin Naw Kham among the four executed

Said in pre-recorded interview: 'I miss my mum... I don't want to die'



A notorious drug lord told how he longed for his mother in a chilling final interview - before being marched to his death live on Chinese television



Burmese gangster Naw Kham was one of four death row prisoners paraded before news cameras in China today as they were escorted to an execution chamber in Yunnan province.

State media broadcast live footage of the four foreign inmates, convicted of the murder of 13 Chinese fishermen on the Mekong river in 2011, as they were taken to be put to death by lethal injection today. The moment of death was not shown.



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Walk of death: Burmese prisoner Naw Kham is seen being escorted to an execution chamber in Kunming, China, today

Final moments: Zha Xika, of Laos, is seen being led to the execution chamber by guards in China

Footage: State media released photographs of the men, including Yi Lai (pictured), and broadcast footage of the prisoners as they were about to be taken to be put to death

Walk of death: Convicted murderer Hsang Kham from Thailand is led from his prison cell as he is transferred for execution in Yunnan Province

In an interview broadcast in China beforehand, apparently recorded on February 27, Naw Kham looked upset as he said: 'I don't want my children to be like me. I am afraid of death. I want to live.'

He added: 'I haven’t been able to sleep for two days. I have been thinking too much. I miss my mum. I don't want to die. I have children. I am afraid.' .

Kham came to nationwide notoriety in China following the slaughter of 13 Chinese sailors when their ships were stormed by armed men on the Mekong river in 2011.



The bodies of the 13 fishermen were found inside two cargo ships, the Hua Ping and the Yu Xing, on the Thai side of the river in October of that year.



According to China's Xinhua news agency, Kham and his subordinates launched an attack on the two ships together with Thai soldiers.

News outlets in China confirmed Kham, Hsang Kham, from Thailand, Yi Lai, who is stateless, and Zha Xika, from Laos, were put to death by lethal injection in Kunming, Yunnan province.

Kham is believed to have been one of the most powerful warlords in the Golden Triangle comprising of Thailand, Laos and Burma, BBC News said.

Liu Yuejin, head of China’s anti-drug unit, told CCTV: 'Naw Kham is apparently a Buddhist. But his life has been dedicated to shooting, crime and murder. He is, by nature, a brutal killer with no regard for life.'

The state media agency's coverage of the prisoners' execution also included the pre-recorded interview with Kham understood to have been recorded earlier this week, in which the feared gangster said: 'I miss my mum... I don't want to die... I am afraid.'

'I miss my mum': Convicted murderer and gang leader Naw Kham of Burma gave a television interview before he was transferred for execution in Yunnan Province saying he missed his mother and adding: 'I don't want to die'

Final words: Naw Kham gave a chilling final interview in which he said he did not want his children to follow the same path

On parade: Chinese television pictured not only Naw Ham's interview but the gang leader's walk from his prison cell to the execution waiting arera in Yunnan Province

After the men were killed by lethal injection, an online post from Yunnan province’s Public Security Bureau read simply: ' Execution implemented.'

Outraged viewers took to social media to express their distaste at the decision to parade the condemned men in front of cameras, condemning it as insensitive and an unwelcome reminder of public execution rallies staged in China in years past.



The men were brought to China last May after being arrested over the Mekong incident in May last year.

Escort: Police vans lined up outside the prison to take drug lord Naw Kham and his accomplices to the execution chamber No escape: Burmese drug lord Naw Kham, left, sits in a police van before being taken to the place of execution in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province Forty minutes before death: Drug lord Naw Kham is seen at the detention centre 40 minutes before being executed by lethal injection in Kunming, China

Waiting to die: A video grab pictures Burmese drug lord Naw Ham before he is taken for lethal injection

Condemned: Naw Kham, from Burma, was among the prisoners shown ahead of his execution in China

Of two other gang members who were also convicted in connection with the deaths of the fishermen, one received a death sentence with reprieve while the other was sentenced to eight years in prison.

An investigation was launched in Thailand into allegations against nine of its soldiers.

Xinhua said the legal rights of the prisoners were 'fully respected' while they were on death row.

Throwback: Viewers in China condemned the decision to broadcast the footage as insensitive

Insensitive: Many in China complained the broadcast was an unwelcome reminder of mass execution rallies staged in the country in the past

The gang was accused of ambushing two flat-bottomed Chinese cargo ships on the upper reaches of the Mekong on October 5, 2011, in Myanmar waters.

The waters are infested with gangs that make their livings from protection rackets and the production and smuggling of heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs.



The Mekong flows south from Yunnan through the infamous Golden Triangle region, where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, and provides a vital trade and transportation route between southwestern China and Southeast Asia.

The ships were recovered downriver later the same day by Thai police following a gun battle with gang members, and the bodies of the 13 dead, some of whom were bound by the hands before being stabbed and shot, were fished from the river over the following days.



Methamphetamines were found on the boats, leading to speculation they had been hijacked as part of a drug smuggling plot.

The wave of attacks has been blamed on gangs operating in the area. Officials in China have said efforts to safeguard shipping on the Mekong would continue.



Live footage: The moment of death was not shown in the state media broadcast

Convicted: The four men were executed over the deaths of 13 Chinese fishermen on the Mekong river in 2011