A court in east China's Jiangsu Province has sentenced 19 gang members to prison for cross-border drug trafficking.

A court in east China's Jiangsu Province has sentenced 19 gang members to prison for cross-border drug trafficking.

The key figure of the gang, surnamed Song, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for smuggling and transporting over 4.7 kg of heroin, according to the Intermediate People's Court in the city of Wuxi.

Another five defendants received life sentences, while the remaining 13 gang members were sentenced to eight years and six months to 15 years in prison, the court said.

The gang members swallowed capsules, each carrying around 5 grams of heroin, and illegally transported them from Myanmar to Chinese cities such as Kunming, Chengdu, Xianyang and Wuxi between November 2017 and March 2018, investigation showed.

Song's main accomplice, surnamed Wang, smuggled and transported over 1.8 kg of heroin, while each of the other 17 gang members was found to have trafficked 100 grams to 1 kg of heroin.

According to the law, smuggling, trafficking, transporting or making 50 grams of heroin or more is punishable by 15 years in jail, life imprisonment or death.