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A Chinese judicial body has sentenced five top figures of a well-known Burmese mafia to execution as Chinese authorities maintains its campaign on scam networks in Southeast Asian region.

Altogether, twenty-one Bai family members and associates were found guilty of fraud, homicide, assault and various crimes, said a state media document released on the judicial portal.

The group is among a few of syndicates that gained influence in the early 2000s and converted the underdeveloped remote area of the town into a lucrative hub of casinos and nightlife areas.

In recent years they pivoted to illegal operations in which numerous of smuggled workers, many of them Chinese, are caught, harmed and compelled to defraud victims in unlawful operations valued at huge sums.

Details of the Sentencing

Syndicate head Bai Suocheng and his offspring Bai Yingcang were among the group of men sentenced to capital punishment by the judicial body. Another individual, A third figure and A fourth person were the additional sentenced.

Two members of the clan mafia were handed suspended death sentences. Five were given to life imprisonment, while additional individuals were given prison terms ranging from a period of 3-20 years.

The Bais, who led their own armed group, set up 41 compounds to accommodate their digital scam operations and casinos, officials reported.

Scale of Illegal Operations

Such unlawful enterprises included exceeding 29bn local currency (over four billion dollars; £3.1bn). They also caused the demise of several from China citizens, the suicide of one and numerous assaults, state media announced.

The strict penalties handed down by the judicial body are a component of the Chinese initiative to eradicate the extensive scam networks in the region - and issue a firm warning to further unlawful organizations.

History of the Groups

These clans gained influence in the recent decades with the support of a military leader - who currently heads Myanmar's regime. The leader had intended to prop up associates in the town after replacing its previous warlord.

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

"At that time, the clan was the dominant in both the government and armed circles," he said in a film about the clan, aired on Chinese state media in July.

During the documentary, a employee at one of illegal operations narrated the harm he had endured at the location: besides being hit, he had his nails yanked out with tools and two of his digits severed with a kitchen knife.

More Charges

The son is included in those who were sentenced to death recently. The individual has also been independently sentenced of conspiring to traffic and produce eleven tons of illegal drugs, reports stated.

End of the Families

The families' end came in 2023 as circumstances shifted.

Previously Chinese authorities has encouraged the Myanmar junta to rein in scam schemes in the area.

Last year, the authorities released arrest warrants for the leading figures of such groups.

Bai Suocheng, the Bai family's head, was among the figures who were extradited to Beijing from the country in early 2024.

"Why is the authorities putting significant resources to go after the four families?" a expert commented in the July documentary.

"It's to warn individuals, regardless of your position, your base, as long as you carry out such heinous offenses affecting the nationals, you will pay the price."