MANILA, Philippines (AP) – A Philippine official says a Chinese court has sentenced two Filipinos to death for allegedly smuggling more than 26 pounds (12 kilograms) of heroin into China last year.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said Friday that a woman and her male cousin were arrested at the Hangzhou International Airport in January 2011 after arriving from Dubai. The Hangzhou People’s Intermediate Court handed down the death penalty last week.

Hernandez says the court gave the man a two-year reprieve but not his cousin.

He says the man has been to China 11 times and the woman 18 times since 2008 and received $2,000 to $3,000 per trip from a contact.

China last year executed four Filipinos for drug smuggling despite appeals from the Philippine government.

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