Xinhua

 

A Chinese court has sentenced 11 members of a Myanmar-based crime syndicate to death for their roles in a sprawling scam operation that led to the deaths of trafficked workers and defrauded victims worldwide.

 

The Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court handed down the sentences on Monday, targeting key figures in the Ming family, a powerful clan operating out of Kokang, northern Myanmar. Among those condemned were Ming Guoping, Ming Zhenzhen and Zhou Weichang, alongside eight others. Five additional defendants received suspended death sentences, typically commuted to life imprisonment, while 12 more were jailed for up to 24 years.

 

The syndicate ran illegal gambling and online scam centres worth over $1.4 billion, according to Chinese authorities. These centres, common across Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, often rely on trafficked labourers coerced into executing romance-based investment scams. The United Nations estimates this shadow industry generates $40 billion annually.

 

The court revealed that ten workers died and two were injured while attempting to flee the syndicate’s operations. Arrest warrants for the Ming family were issued in November 2023, part of China’s broader crackdown on cross-border scam networks.

 

Joint operations between China, Myanmar and Thailand earlier this year led to the release of over 7,000 workers from scam compounds along the Thai-Myanmar border, most of them Chinese nationals.

 

The case underscores the growing international pressure on Myanmar to dismantle criminal networks operating within its borders. While China leads the legal response, regional cooperation is intensifying to combat the exploitation and violence linked to these illicit enterprises.

 

With Myanmar’s borderlands increasingly under scrutiny, the verdict sends a stark message: impunity for transnational crime is no longer guaranteed.

 

 

-2025-09-30

3 minutes ago, geovalin said:

A Chinese court has sentenced 11 members of a Myanmar-based crime syndicate to death for their roles in a sprawling scam operation that led to the deaths of trafficked workers and defrauded victims worldwide.

Hopefully it will inspire other countries to do the same and deter the filthy criminals, and rid them.