DST News: Chinese authorities have carried out the execution of four additional members of the Bai family, a notorious crime syndicate that operated large-scale scam networks in Myanmar, according to state media.
The four were part of a group of 21 Bai family members and associates convicted by a court in Guangdong province on charges including fraud, murder, causing bodily harm, and other serious crimes. In November last year, the court sentenced five individuals to death, among them the family patriarch Bai Suocheng, who later died of illness while in custody.
The executions follow closely on the heels of another major action: last week, China put to death 11 members of the Ming family, another powerful mafia group, as part of Beijing’s intensified crackdown on cyber scam operations across Southeast Asia that have victimized thousands of Chinese citizens.
For years, the Bai and Ming families—along with several other clans—effectively controlled Laukkaing, a border town in Myanmar. There, they ran casinos, brothels, and vast online scam operations. Among these groups, the Bai family was considered the most powerful. Bai Suocheng’s son once described them as “number one” after his detention by authorities.
According to Chinese officials, the Bai family maintained its own armed militia and established 41 fortified compounds used for cyber fraud and gambling. These compounds were marked by systemic violence, where physical abuse and torture were common practices. The court stated that the family’s criminal activities caused the deaths of six Chinese nationals, led to one suicide, and left many others injured.
The Bai family rose to prominence in the early 2000s after Laukkaing’s former warlord was removed in a military operation led by Min Aung Hlaing, who now heads Myanmar’s military government. At the time, the military sought cooperative local allies, and Bai Suocheng—then a deputy to the warlord—emerged as a key partner.
Their dominance collapsed in 2023, when China grew increasingly frustrated with Myanmar’s failure to curb scam operations. Beijing quietly supported an offensive by ethnic armed groups in the region, a move that proved decisive in Myanmar’s ongoing civil conflict. As a result, the scam syndicates were dismantled, and their members were transferred to Chinese custody.
Back in China, many of the captured figures were featured in state-produced documentaries highlighting the government’s determination to eliminate transnational scam networks. The recent executions are widely seen as a warning to others involved in similar crimes.
According to United Nations estimates, hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into Myanmar and other parts of Southeast Asia to operate online scams. Many of them are Chinese nationals, and their victims—who lose billions of dollars—are predominantly Chinese as well.
Source: BBC
