🔗 Share this article

A China's judicial body has handed down death sentences to a group of leading figures of an infamous Myanmar organized crime group to capital punishment as Beijing persists in its crackdown on fraudulent operations in South East Asia.

Overall, 21 Bai family members and associates were convicted of fraud, homicide, assault and various offenses, said a state media document released on the judicial website.

The group is among a few of mafias that rose to power in the last two decades and transformed the poor isolated region of the town into a profitable hub of casinos and red-light districts.

Over the past few years they shifted to fraudulent schemes in which thousands of trafficked individuals, several of them from China, are caught, harmed and forced to defraud targets in illegal operations worth billions.

Details of the Sentencing

Mafia boss the patriarch and his son Bai Yingcang were among the group of individuals given to execution by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. Yang Liqiang, A third figure and A fourth person were the additional punished.

A couple of members of the Bai family mafia were handed conditional death penalties. Several were sentenced to permanent incarceration, while additional individuals were received prison sentences varying from a period of 3-20 years.

The clan, who commanded their own private army, established forty-one compounds to host their digital scam operations and casinos, authorities stated.

Scale of Unlawful Schemes

Such criminal operations included exceeding 29 billion yuan (over four billion dollars; over three billion pounds). These activities also resulted in the demise of several from China nationals, the self-inflicted death of one and several harm, official sources announced.

The strict punishments issued by the judicial body are part of the Chinese campaign to eliminate the vast scam operations in South East Asia - and deliver a stern message to further illegal syndicates.

Background of the Clans

These clans became dominant in the early 2000s with the support of a military leader - who is in charge of Myanmar's military government. He had intended to prop up associates in Laukkaing after ousting its former warlord.

Within the groups, the Bais were "absolutely number one", the son earlier informed official sources.

"At that time, we was the leading in both the political and military circles," the individual said in a documentary about the Bai family, shown on national media in July.

In the same film, a employee at their fraud facilities recalled the abuse he had suffered there: in addition to being hit, he had his nails yanked out with pliers and two of his fingers cut off with a kitchen knife.

More Charges

The son is among those who were sentenced to death recently. The individual has also been independently sentenced of planning to smuggle and make a large quantity of illegal drugs, state media announced.

Decline of the Clans

The families' end occurred in recent times as situations shifted.

Over a long period Chinese authorities has encouraged the Myanmar junta to limit fraudulent operations in the area.

Last year, the authorities announced legal actions for the most prominent members of these families.

Bai Suocheng, the Bai family's leader, was included in the warlords who were extradited to Beijing from Myanmar in the beginning of the year.

For what reason is the authorities putting significant resources to go after the groups?" a Chinese investigator commented in the July report.

This serves as a warning other people, regardless of who you are, your base, if you engage in these terrible crimes affecting the citizens, you will be held accountable."