A Chinese court has sentenced five top members of an infamous Myanmar mafia to death as Beijing continues its crackdown on scam operations in Southeast Asia.
In total, 21 members of the Bai family and associates were convicted of serious offenses including fraud, homicide, and violence, as reported by the state media.
The Bai family emerged as a powerful entity in the 2000s, transforming Laukkaing, an impoverished town, into a center for casinos and illicit activities.
Recently, they shifted their focus to scams, involving trafficked workers—many Chinese—who were abused to carry out extensive fraud operations valued in the billions.
The five sentenced individuals include mafia boss Bai Suocheng and his son Bai Yingcang. The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court also issued suspended death sentences to two other family members and life imprisonment to five others.
The Bai family managed to establish 41 compounds for their cybercriminal operations, leading to substantial financial and humanitarian harms, including six deaths among the victims of their schemes.
The severe penalties are part of a broader Chinese initiative aimed at dismantling sprawling scam syndicates in the region, with similar sentences having been shared with other criminal groups.
The Bai family had notable political ties in Myanmar, supported historically by military leaders, which enabled their rise to infamy.
Bai Yingcang had previously declared their dominance in both military and political arenas within Laos during a July documentary.
Details highlighted extreme human rights abuses endured by victims forced to work in their operations, shocking the public and raising concern over the heavy penalties now being enacted against them.
In anticipation of broader impacts, experts stress that these actions send a clear message from the Chinese government that such crimes will not go unpunished.
