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China claims Dalai's 'spies' caught in Tibet

China Friday claimed that it had crushed a plot in Tibet and sentenced one of the two 'spies' of the Dalai Lama's "clique" who were sent last year to carry out self-immolation to attract world attention to the Tibet issue.

"Now the exiled separatist group's conspiracy to create a self-immolation incident in the Tibet autonomous region has been completely crushed," the official Xinhua news agency reported, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Chinese occupation of Tibet which will be marked on May 23.

According to the report, on July 25, 2000, Tugyi and Cengdan Gyaco, both 'spies' of the Dalai "clique", crossed the Sino-Nepalese border.

On orders of the "Security Ministry" of the Dalai clique, Cengdan Gyaco was to set himself on fire on the square of the Johkang Monastery in Lhasa, the regional capital, while Tugyi would videotape the whole process before sending the film to the UN Human Rights Commission.

After the two 'spies' sneaked into Xigaze prefecture, Gyaco was captured by local police. But Tugyi fled and went into hiding. However, he was caught on May 5, this year, the report said.

On January 13, 2001, the intermediate people's court of Lhasa city, in the first instance of trial, charged Gyaco with "agitating separatism and espionage" and sentenced him to eight-year imprisonment.

"Gyaco confessed his guilt and expressed regret. Tugyi has also confessed his crimes and his case is under further investigation," the report claimed.

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