Drug sentence strikes a sour note for Chinese indie band musician

A member of the young Chinese indie band Floruit Show has been sentenced to one year in prison for drug trafficking.

The offender, Du Xue'er, 31, plays the guitar and harp in the band which is made up of triplet sisters from southern Guangdong Province.

She allegedly purchased nine LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) stamps from the United States via someone on WeChat on January 4 last year.

The delivery from the US was seized by customs in the northern city of Tianjin and handed over to the anti-smuggling bureau of the Beijing Customs, according to the capital's No. 4 Intermediate People's Court.

Du was caught at the receiver's address on January 29.

Apart from the prison sentence, she was also fined 10,000 yuan (US$1,500).

Du made an announcement on her Weibo account on Monday, apologizing to the public and said that she had stopped being part of the band since the investigation against her was launched.

In a statement on Tuesday, the China Association of Performing Arts urged all of its members to boycott Du.

The organization has made similar calls earlier about artists caught on the wrong side of the law or for moral missteps that drew public condemnation.