KUNMING, Jan. 25 -- Police in southwest China's Yunnan Province intercepted a drug smuggling attempt, seizing over 41 kg of heroin and arresting three suspects.

Yunnan Border Police on Tuesday last week were given information that led them to believe that a large amount of drugs were going to be smuggled into China. That evening, police were alerted to the presence of a suspicious black car parked in front of a bank in the China-Myanmar border city of Ruili.

When police watched two people arrive on electric motorbikes at 1:15 a.m. Wednesday morning and attempt to hand over two brown bags, they swooped in and arrested the three suspects at the scene.

The bags contained 41.515 kg of heroin. The vehicles were also seized.

The maximum sentence for anyone convicted of selling or producing more than 50 grams of heroin is the death penalty.