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 Bai family is among the few mafias that rose to power in the 2000s, transforming the impoverished town of Laukkaing into a lucrative hub of casinos and red-light districts. In recent years, they shifted their operations to scams, trafficking thousands of workers, many of whom were Chinese, who were trapped and forced into fraudulent operations worth billions.
Mafia boss Bai Suocheng and his son Bai Yingcang were among the five sentenced to death by the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court. Three others, Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang, and Chen Guangyi, received the same fate.
Some family members received suspended death sentences, while others were sentenced to life imprisonment or varying terms from three to 20 years in jail.
The Bais, who maintained their own militia, established 41 compounds for their cyberscam activities and casinos, raking in more than 29 billion Chinese yuan (approximately $4.1 billion). Their activities have led to the deaths of six Chinese citizens and numerous injuries, as reported by state media.
The harsh penalties are part of China's broader campaign to dismantle extensive scam networks in Southeast Asia, serving as a strong warning to other syndicates. In recent months, a Chinese court also handed down death sentences to 11 members of another prominent crime family.
The Bai family’s rise and fall are intertwined with Myanmar’s political landscape, receiving initial support from the military government. However, as the political climate shifted, the Chinese authorities intensified their crackdowns, urging Myanmar’s junta to control these criminal operations.
Bai Yingcang, also convicted of drug trafficking, expressed pride in their family's past power, while a former worker at their scam center shared harrowing abuse stories, indicating the levels of violence and coercion involved in their operations.
