A Chinese court convicted death 11 members of a notorious family who ran scam centers in Myanmar, according to Chinese state media.
Dozens of members of the Ming family were found guilty of carrying out criminal activities, with many who received long prison sentences.
The Ming family worked for one of the four clans that led the sleepy inner water city of Laukkaing of Myanmar, close to the border with China, and turned it into a hub for gambling, drugs and scam centers.
Myanmar finally beaten, in 2023 many members of these families arrested and handed them to the Chinese authorities.
A total of 39 Ming family members were convicted on Monday in the eastern city of Wenzhou, according to a report from the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
In addition to the 11 members who received death sentences, another five death sentences with two -year suspensions received; 11 were imprisoned for life; And the rest were sentenced to five to 24 years old.
The court ruled that since 2015 the Ming family and other criminal groups had done criminal activities, including telecommunication fraud, illegal casinos, drug trafficking and prostitution.
According to the court, their gambling and scam activities had generated more than 10 billion yuan ($ 1.4 billion; £ 1 billion).
Others had previously estimated that the casinos of each of the four families processed several billion dollars every year.
The court also ruled that the Ming family and other criminal groups were responsible for the death of various employees in the scam center, including shooters in one incident to prevent them from returning to China.
Initially developed to take advantage of the Chinese demand for gambling, which is illegal in China and many other neighboring countries, the casinos of Laukkaing evolved into a lucrative front for money laundering, human trafficking and dozens of scam centers.
It was seen as the engine space of what the UN has called the “scamdemic”, which has seen more than 100,000 aliens, many Chinese people are lured to scam centers where they are effectively imprisoned and forced to work long hours, advanced online fraud activities aimed at victims around the world.
The Ming family was once one of the most powerful in the Shan state of Myanmar, and ran scam centers in Laukkaing that held at least 10,000 employees. The most notorious was a compound that is known as Crouching Tiger Villa, where workers were routinely beaten and tortured.
Then, two years ago, an alliance of rebellious groups launched an offensive that the Myanmar -army from large areas of Shan State ran and took over the control over Laukkaing. China, which has a significant influence on these groups, was supposed to have given the offensive a green light.
Ming Xuechang, the Family Patriarch, reportedly committed suicide; Other family members were transferred to the Chinese authorities. Some have made repentant confessions.
Thousands of people who work in the scam centers have also been transferred to the Chinese police.
With these sentences, China indicates the determination to treat hard with the scam activities on the border. Pressure Van Beijing also forced Thailand to take action against scam centers along the border with Myanmar earlier this year.
Nevertheless, the company has adapted, with much of them now active in Cambodia, although it is still common in Myanmar.
