BEIJING, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese courts have handed down serious sentences to convicts in drug-related cases to facilitate narcotics control, said the Supreme People's Court (SPC) Tuesday.

The gate of the Supreme People's Court of China (File Photo: VCG)

A total of 26,443 convicts, about 24.11 percent of the total in drug-related cases, received serious sentences ranging from five years in jail to death penalty in 2018, said an SPC statement.

In the first five months of this year, a total of 10,029 convicts, about 26.38 percent of the total in drug-related cases, received such serious sentences, the statement said.

The two proportions were "a dozen percentage points" higher than the average ratios of serious sentences in all criminal cases, the SPC said.

In 2018, 66.5 percent of more than 100,000 drug-related cases closed by Chinese courts were about drug trafficking, selling transporting and manufacturing while 24.8 percent were about providing shelter for others to use drugs.

In the face of a severe situation of narcotics control, the courts will maintain a tough stance on drug crimes, the statement said.