Sana'a, Yemen  - A Pakistani man serving a 25-year jail term for trafficking drugs into Yemen has died in a hospital in the Yemeni capital Sana'a, Interior Ministry reported on Monday.

The ministry said in a statement that Nabi Bakhish Ibrahim, 52, died on Sunday after a long struggle with cancer.

It said the inmate was rushed to hospital a few days ago after he developed breathing problems.

Ibrahim was among a group of 15 Pakistanis sentenced to 25 years in jail each by a state security court in Sana'a on March 2. The court convicted them of smuggling drugs into the Arabian Peninsula country.

Another Pakistani convict in the same case was sentenced to death.

The court found the 16 men guilty of smuggling around 10,000 kilograms of hashish into Yemen through the Arabian Sea.

Authorities have said the men were arrested in September 2008 after their boat was seized by Yemeni coast guard patrols about 50 miles off the south-eastern Yemeni port of Mukalla.

Yemen's south-eastern coast is used by drug-traffickers from Iran and Pakistan as a gateway to oil-rich countries in the Gulf.

Last November, a court in Sana'a sentenced an Iranian man to death and 11 other Iranians as well as a Pakistani man to 25 years in jail over drug trafficking charges. (dpa)