A Vietnamese drug dealer and her four Chinese accomplices have been captured by police in the middle of last month in southwest China trafficking 11 kg of heroin, police said Monday.

The Vietnamese woman is 34 and surnamed Nguyen, according to the police bureau of Chongzuo City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Police in Pingxiang City, which is under the jurisdiction of Chongzuo and borders Vietnam, arrested three suspects who were driving a car and transporting a bag of heroin on April 17 at a checkpoint.

The police, with the help of the suspects' confession, raided two residences in Pingxiang hours later, arresting another two suspects including the principal Nguyen and seizing more heroin.

The four accomplices include one from Suixi County, Guangdong, one from Ningming County, Guangxi, and two brothers from Pingxiang.

Nguyen entered China illegally in 1992. She was detained by police over drug trafficking in Guangdong Province in 2007 and released at the end of last year. However, she took up drug trafficking again since then, the police bureau of Chongzuo City said.

The bureau said Nguyen's case involved the largest amount of drug in Guangxi so far this year.

It is not immediately known as to when the suspects will go on trial. They could face death sentences if found guilty.

(Xinhua News Agency May 5, 2009)