Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.
Thailand News and Discussion Forum | ASEANNOW

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

The Chinese mafia's downfall in a lawless casino town

CharlieH
CharlieH
in World News - Discussion

Featured Replies

  • Popular Post

image.png

 

The photographs released by Chinese police showed their officers holding a man and a woman in handcuffs in front of a border gate.

They had just been handed over from Myanmar, the latest in scores of arrests of those accused of running scam centres in a town on the north-eastern border with China.

The two were Ming Guoping and Ming Zhenzhen, son and granddaughter of one of the powerful warlords who have run the town of Laukkaing for the past 14 years.

A sudden escalation of the conflict in Myanmar has spelled the end of the Chinese mafia - the Godfather-esque "four families" - in this notoriously lawless border town.

At around the same time as the Chinese police released the photos of the handcuffed pair last Thursday, the official Myanmar military news published a photo of an apparent autopsy being conducted in the back of a van on the body of a 69 year-old man.

It was the warlord himself - Ming Xuechang - who, the military said, had taken his own life after being captured, an explanation greeted with scepticism by many.

 

It was an ignominious end to an extraordinary story that began in the days of war and revolution, but turned into one of drugs, gambling, greed and Machiavellian rivalry.

The four families

Ming Xuechang was a henchman of Bai Suocheng, who heads one of the families.

Under them the remote, impoverished backwater of Laukkaing was transformed into a rowdy casino hub of gaudy high-rise towers and seedy red-light districts.

Although powerful, the Mings were not a part of this coveted list of four - the other three families were headed by Wei Chaoren, Liu Guoxi and Liu Zhengxiang.

Initially developed to take advantage of Chinese demand for gambling, which is illegal in China and many other neighbouring countries, Laukkaing's casinos evolved into a lucrative front for money laundering, trafficking and in particular for dozens of scam centres.

 

    •
    • Like 3
    • Agree 1

    Create an account or sign in to comment
    Go to topic listing

    Recently Browsing 0

    • No registered users viewing this page.

    Account

    Navigation

    Search

    Search

    Configure browser push notifications
    Chrome (Android)
    1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
    2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
    3. Adjust your preference.
    Chrome (Desktop)
    1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
    2. Select Site settings.
    3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.