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 family is among a handful of mafias that rose to power in the 2000s and transformed the impoverished backwater town of Laukkaing into a lucrative hub of casinos and red-light districts.
In recent years, they pivoted to scams in which thousands of trafficked workers, many of them Chinese, are trapped, abused, and forced to defraud others in criminal operations worth billions.
Mafia boss Bai Suocheng and his son Bai Yingcang were among the five men sentenced to death by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang, and Chen Guangyi were the other three.
Two members of the Bai family mafia received suspended death sentences, five were sentenced to life imprisonment, while nine others received jail sentences ranging from three to 20 years.
The Bais, who had their militia, established 41 compounds to run their cyberscam activities and casinos, authorities said.
These criminal activities involved over 29 billion Chinese yuan ($4.1 billion) and resulted in the deaths of six Chinese citizens, along with multiple injuries and a suicide, as per state media reports.
The harsh penalties handed down by the court are part of China's campaign to eradicate vast scam networks in South East Asia and send a stern warning to other criminal syndicates.
In September, another court sentenced 11 members of the Ming family—yet another prominent clan from Laukkaing—to death.
These families ascended to power in the 2000s with the support of Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar's military leader, who sought to bolster allies in Laukkaing after ousting its former warlord.
Bai Yingcang previously stated that among the clans, the Bais were absolutely number one, signaling their dominance in both political and military circles.
In a documentary aired by Chinese state media in July, a worker at one of their scam centers recounted severe abuse, including beatings, removal of fingernails with pliers, and severe injury with a knife.
Bai Yingcang is also separately convicted of conspiring to traffic and manufacture 11 tonnes of methamphetamine, as reported by state media.
The Bai family's downfall coincided with shifting political dynamics in 2023. Beijing has persistently pressured the Myanmar junta to address the rampant scam operations in Laukkaing.
With this significant ruling, China emphasizes that anyone committing such heinous crimes against its citizens will face severe consequences.
