By Lee Shi-Ian

KUALA LUMPUR - A Malaysian woman is facing the death sentence after being caught with 1kg of heroin at an airport in Changsha, central China, last Saturday.

The 28-year-old woman faces death by lethal injection if convicted as China's Criminal Law stipulates that trafficking of more than 50g of heroin is punishable by death.

The woman had aroused police suspicion at the airport shortly after she disembarked as she had sprayed a lot of perfume on herself.

It is believed she was trying to use the perfume to evade detection by Chinese K-9 units.

A source from Malaysia's Federal Narcotics Criminal Investigation Department revealed that the woman was stopped by authorities and searched.

It is understood that three packages containing heroin were found hidden in her suitcase.

"The woman told police that her employer in Malaysia had asked her to smuggle the heroin into China. She was to have passed on the drugs to a Guinean man at a hotel in Changsha," the source disclosed.

"Acting on information provided by the woman, police later detained a Guinean man to assist in investigations. It is believed that he is a drug syndicate member based in China," the source added.

The woman had departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang last weekend.

China's stringent laws saw British drug smuggler Akmal Shaikh, executed by lethal injection in December last year.

The 53-year-old British national was executed in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

He had been convicted of carrying up to 4kg of heroin at Urumqi International Airport from Dushanbe, capital of Tajikstan, on Sept 12, 2007. His execution was carried out despite furious protests from the British government.

"We are currently awaiting additional reports from our counterparts in China," the source said, adding that the other likely scenario for the woman would be a jail sentence for life.