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A Chinese court has handed down death sentences to five top members of a well-known Burmese organized crime group to death as Beijing continues its efforts on fraudulent operations in South East Asia.

Altogether, 21 Bai family figures and partners were found guilty of fraud, murder, assault and additional crimes, said a state media announcement published on the court portal.

This clan is one of a handful of organized crime groups that became dominant in the last two decades and converted the poor backwater town of Laukkaing into a profitable center of casinos and entertainment zones.

Recently they shifted to scams in which many of illegally moved workers, a large number of them from China, are caught, harmed and compelled to defraud victims in illegal operations worth billions.

Specifics of the Judgment

Syndicate leader the patriarch and his offspring Bai Yingcang were among the several individuals sentenced to capital punishment by the court in Shenzhen. Another individual, Hu Xiaojiang and Chen Guangyi were the remaining punished.

Two members of the clan mafia were received suspended death sentences. Several were condemned to life imprisonment, while more figures were given jail terms varying from a period of 3-20 years.

The clan, who led their own private army, established forty-one bases to host their online fraud operations and casinos, officials reported.

Scale of Criminal Activities

These unlawful operations included exceeding twenty-nine billion yuan ($4.1 billion; £3.1 billion). These activities also caused the fatalities of six from China individuals, the self-inflicted death of an individual and numerous injuries, state media announced.

The severe penalties issued by the judicial body are a component of China's initiative to eradicate the large scam rings in Southeast Asia - and deliver a strong signal to further illegal organizations.

Background of the Families

Such clans rose to power in the early 2000s with the help of a prominent figure - who currently heads the country's regime. The leader had intended to bolster associates in Laukkaing after replacing its previous leader.

Among the groups, the this family were "the top", Bai Yingcang earlier stated to official sources.

Back then, our Bai family was the dominant in each of the government and military arenas," the individual said in a film about the clan, shown on official channels in July.

During the report, a employee at their their scam centres described the mistreatment he had endured there: in addition to being hit, he had his fingernails extracted with instruments and a couple of his digits amputated with a blade.

More Charges

The son is included in those who were given to death in the latest ruling. He has also been separately sentenced of planning to smuggle and manufacture eleven tons of illegal drugs, reports reported.

End of the Families

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

For years Chinese authorities has urged the local government to limit fraudulent operations in the area.

Recently, the authorities released detention orders for the leading figures of such groups.

The patriarch, the clan's leader, was among the warlords who were extradited to China from Myanmar in early 2024.

"Why is the authorities putting so much effort to pursue the clans?" a Chinese investigator stated in the summer documentary.

This serves as a warning groups, no matter who you are, your location, when you carry out such terrible acts against the Chinese people, you will pay the price."