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, said 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 some of 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 controlled their own militia and established 41 compounds for their cyberscam activities and casinos, raking in over 29 billion Chinese yuan ($4.1 billion).
The court's harsh penalties reflect China's determination to eradicate vast scam networks in Southeast Asia and serve as a warning to other criminal syndicates. In September, a Chinese court sentenced 11 members of the Ming family, another prominent Laukkaing clan, to death. The Bais were previously described as "number one" among these powerful clans. A worker at one of their scam centers recounted severe abuse, including severe physical abuse, showcasing the brutality of their operations. Bai Yingcang, who was also convicted of drug trafficking, highlighted the families' downfall as Chinese authorities tighten their grip on organized crime.
Mafia boss Bai Suocheng and his son Bai Yingcang were some of 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 controlled their own militia and established 41 compounds for their cyberscam activities and casinos, raking in over 29 billion Chinese yuan ($4.1 billion).
The court's harsh penalties reflect China's determination to eradicate vast scam networks in Southeast Asia and serve as a warning to other criminal syndicates. In September, a Chinese court sentenced 11 members of the Ming family, another prominent Laukkaing clan, to death. The Bais were previously described as "number one" among these powerful clans. A worker at one of their scam centers recounted severe abuse, including severe physical abuse, showcasing the brutality of their operations. Bai Yingcang, who was also convicted of drug trafficking, highlighted the families' downfall as Chinese authorities tighten their grip on organized crime.
