BEIJING -- Chinese courts sentenced 39,762 criminals for drug-related offenses in the first five months of 2014, up 27.38 percent year on year, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) announced on Wednesday.

A total of 9,168, or about 23 percent, were sentenced to more than five years imprisonment, life in jail or death, said Ma Yan, a deputy presiding judge with the SPC.

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Five typical drug-related cases were made public by the SPC. In the cases of Xiong Dongping, Xiao Wenzhong, Yang Yongshu and Gong Xingfu, they were all executed for drug trafficking or production, or intentional homicide involving drugs.

Chinese courts accepted 43,180 cases and concluded 37,186 from January to May, up 30 and 31 percent respectively, according to the SPC.

"Drug-related crimes have been spreading from bordering and coastal areas to the country's inland," Ma said.

Such offenses previously plagued bordering areas, China's southwestern region and coastal areas.

In 2013, however, provincial areas including Guangdong, Zhejiang and Chongqing settled the most drug-related cases, according to Ma.

South China's Guangdong Province has been top of the list since 2007.

While southwest China's Yunnan and Guangxi still reported high incidence of drug-related crimes, northeast China's Liaoning Province has seen a mushrooming number of such cases in the past few years, Ma said.

The information was released on the eve of International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking which falls on June 26. The day was established by the UN in 1988.