A Chinese court has sentenced five top members of an infamous Myanmar mafia to death as Beijing continues its crackdown on scam operations in South East Asia.
In all 21 Bai family members and associates were convicted of fraud, homicide, injury and other crimes, according to a state media report published on the court website.
The Bai family is among a handful of mafias that rose to power in the 2000s, transforming the impoverished town of Laukkaing into a hub for casinos and illicit activities.
In recent years, they pivoted to scams involving trafficked workers, many of whom are Chinese, forced into deceptive operations worth billions.
Mafia boss Bai Suocheng and his son Bai Yingcang were among the five sentenced to death by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, alongside Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang, and Chen Guangyi.
Two other mafia members received suspended death sentences, while five were sentenced to life imprisonment, with additional jail terms ranging from three to 20 years handed to nine others.
The Bais ran 41 compounds for cyber scams and casinos, and their operations resulted in over 29 billion Chinese yuan ($4.1 billion) in criminal revenue, authorities reported. They were also linked to the deaths of six individuals and multiple injuries.
The recent sentences reflect China's intensified effort to dismantle extensive scam networks in Southeast Asia, as demonstrated by the previous sentencing of eleven members of another crime family, the Ming family.
Notably, Bai Yingcang was also convicted for engaging in the trafficking and manufacturing of methamphetamine, underscoring the multifaceted criminal activities the Bai family was involved in.
Bai Suocheng, the family patriarch, was previously handed over to Chinese authorities from Myanmar in early 2024. These actions signal a stern warning against heinous crimes targeting Chinese citizens, as echoed by investigative insights into the Chinese government's rising intolerance of such criminal enterprises.
