Beijing - A Chinese court has sentenced to death two Taiwanese drug dealers convicted of trafficking heroin from Myanmar, state media said on Monday.

Chien Chih-Cheng and Chen Ming-Hsiung were among eight Taiwanese citizens sentenced last week in the south-eastern province of Fujian for their part in trafficking more than 12 kilograms of heroin, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Chien and Chen led a gang that bought 39 packets of heroin from Myanmar in early September and sold four of them for 400,000 yuan (60,000 dollars) in the southern city of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, the agency quoted police as saying.

The gang had planned to take the rest of the heroin to Taiwan but a storm stranded their fishing boats in the Fujian port of Zhangzhou.

Police later arrested 13 people in Fujian and neighbouring Guangdong province, it said.

The Zhangzhou Intermediate People's Court last week sentenced the other six Taiwanese and five Chinese citizens to jail terms ranging from 12 years to life, including two suspended death sentences, the agency said.

The heroin was the largest amount seized in Fujian for three years, it said. (dpa)