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A Chinese court has condemned a group of prominent members of a notorious Myanmar organized crime group to capital punishment as Beijing maintains its crackdown on scam operations in Southeast Asian region.

Overall, twenty-one clan individuals and collaborators were convicted of scams, murder, assault and various offenses, said a official report released on the judicial website.

This clan is one of a small number of mafias that gained influence in the last two decades and changed the poor backwater town of Laukkaing into a lucrative hub of casinos and nightlife areas.

In recent years they pivoted to illegal operations in which many of illegally moved individuals, several of them Chinese, are caught, harmed and forced to scam victims in unlawful enterprises estimated at huge sums.

Specifics of the Verdict

Mafia head Bai Suocheng and his heir Bai Yingcang were among the several men given to capital punishment by the judicial body. Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang and A fourth person were the additional sentenced.

Two individuals of the clan syndicate were received suspended death sentences. Five were given to life in prison, while more figures were received prison sentences between three to 20 years.

The clan, who led their own armed group, created forty-one bases to accommodate their online fraud activities and casinos, authorities stated.

Scale of Criminal Activities

These criminal activities entailed over twenty-nine billion yuan ($4.1bn; £3.1 billion). They also resulted in the deaths of several Chinese citizens, the suicide of an individual and multiple assaults, reports stated.

The severe punishments issued by the judicial body are part of the Chinese campaign to eliminate the vast fraud networks in South East Asia - and issue a strong signal to other criminal organizations.

Context of the Groups

These clans became dominant in the 2000s with the assistance of a prominent figure - who is in charge of Myanmar's regime. He had aimed to support partners in the town after ousting its former warlord.

Within the groups, the this family were "the most powerful", Bai Yingcang before stated to official sources.

"At that time, the clan was the dominant in both the political and armed arenas," he remarked in a film about the Bai family, aired on Chinese state media in the summer.

In the same documentary, a worker at a their scam centres described the mistreatment he had endured there: besides being assaulted, he had his fingernails extracted with instruments and a couple of his digits cut off with a blade.

More Accusations

The son is included in those who were given to execution recently. The individual has also been separately found guilty of planning to traffic and manufacture 11 tonnes of methamphetamine, state media announced.

Downfall of the Families

The families' downfall came in recent times as circumstances changed.

Over a long period Beijing has encouraged the Myanmar junta to rein in fraudulent activities in the area.

In 2023, the law enforcement announced arrest warrants for the key individuals of such groups.

Bai Suocheng, the clan's leader, was among the figures who were transferred to Beijing from Myanmar in the beginning of the year.

"Why is the authorities making such extensive work to pursue the groups?" a Chinese investigator said in the summer documentary.

"It's to warn other people, regardless of your identity, your base, when you engage in these terrible offenses targeting the citizens, you will pay the price."