BANGKOK - Four Malaysian nationals and five Taiwanese face the death penalty after being arrested on charges of attempting to traffic heroin to the United States and Europe, Thai police said today.

Anti-narcotics officials arrested the nine in separate raids in Bangkok and the southern city of Hat Yai, seizing 47.6 kilos of heroin.

Police said the heroin was worth 19 million baht (452,380 dollars) in Thailand but would have fetched 100 times that price if it had reached its destination.

Arrested at hotel

The five Taiwanese, including four men and a woman, were arrested last Wednesday with 9.6 kilos of heroin at a hotel in the seedy Nana district of the capital.

The four Malaysians were arrested on Sunday at their hotel in Hat Yai city, which is near the Malaysian border.

"These two gangs were working in cooperation and trafficking heroin to the United States and European destinations," said police Major General Adithep Panjamanon. - AFP