A French woman in her 30s could face the death penalty in Malaysia after being arrested along with four other people for growing cannabis in a luxury flat on Borneo island.

Advertising Read more

The woman, whom police have not named, was arrested along with two Malaysians and an Indonesian on Wednesday when police raided two luxury apartment blocks in Sabah state in the Malaysian part of Borneo.

They seized 36 cannabis plants and half a kilogramme of cannabis, according to local police chief Hamza Taib.

They will "very probably" be charged with drug trafficking, which can carry the death penalty, he said.

The French woman has been in Malaysia a year, according to Hamza.

Several hundred people are on death row in Malaysia and many of them are there because of drug-related offences.

Nearly 450 people have been executed in Malaysia since 1960, two of them being Australians killed in 1986 for trading in heroin.

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe