🔗 Share this article

One Chinese judicial body has sentenced five prominent members of a notorious Myanmar organized crime group to execution as Beijing maintains its efforts on fraudulent operations in Southeast Asian region.

Overall, 21 clan members and associates were convicted of fraud, homicide, assault and additional crimes, said a state media announcement posted on the court website.

The family is among a handful of organized crime groups that rose to power in the 2000s and transformed the impoverished backwater town of the town into a lucrative center of gambling establishments and nightlife areas.

Over the past few years they shifted to scams in which numerous of smuggled people, a large number of them Chinese, are caught, abused and forced to cheat others in criminal activities estimated at huge sums.

Information of the Verdict

Mafia boss Bai Suocheng and his offspring the younger Bai were among the five individuals condemned to execution by the judicial body. Yang Liqiang, A third figure and Chen Guangyi were the other three convicted.

Two members of the clan mafia were given conditional death penalties. Five were sentenced to life imprisonment, while more figures were received jail sentences ranging from several years to two decades.

This family, who led their own private army, set up 41 bases to host their online fraud activities and casinos, authorities reported.

Scale of Illegal Activities

These unlawful operations involved exceeding 29 billion local currency (over four billion dollars; £3.1 billion). These activities also resulted in the deaths of six Chinese citizens, the self-inflicted death of an individual and several injuries, official sources stated.

The harsh punishments handed down by the court are part of China's campaign to eradicate the vast fraud operations in the region - and send a stern warning to additional criminal groups.

Background of the Families

These families became dominant in the recent decades with the support of Min Aung Hlaing - who currently heads the country's regime. He had aimed to support associates in the town after removing its previous ruler.

Within the clans, the this family were "the most powerful", the son earlier informed state media.

"At that time, the clan was the leading in both the government and armed arenas," he remarked in a documentary about the Bai family, shown on national media in July.

Within that film, a employee at a their scam centres narrated the harm he had suffered there: besides being assaulted, he had his fingernails yanked out with tools and a couple of his digits cut off with a tool.

More Accusations

The son is among those who were given to death recently. He has also been independently convicted of organizing to traffic and manufacture 11 tonnes of illegal drugs, state media stated.

End of the Groups

The families' end came in 2023 as political winds altered.

Previously Beijing has urged the local government to control fraudulent activities in the area.

Last year, the authorities released detention orders for the key figures of these families.

The patriarch, the clan's patriarch, was included in the warlords who were transferred to Beijing from Myanmar in early 2024.

For what reason is the Chinese government making so much effort to pursue the four families?" a expert stated in the July report.

The purpose is to caution other people, no matter your position, where you are, when you engage in these heinous acts affecting the Chinese people, you will pay the price."