China has executed 11 members of a notorious mafia family that ran scam centers in Myanmar near the northwestern border, state media reports.
Members of the Ming family were convicted in September of various crimes including murder, illegal possession, fraud and running casinos by a court in China’s Zhejiang province.
The Ming family was one of many clans that ruled the city of Laukkaing, transforming a poor town into a glittering hub of casinos and red light districts.
Their empire of fraud collapsed in 2023, when they were arrested and handed over to China by ethnic militias who had taken control of Laukkaing during an escalation of the conflict with the Myanmar military.
According to UN estimates, hundreds of thousands of people are trafficked to work in online scams in Myanmar and other Southeast Asian countries. Among them are thousands of Chinese, and their victims, from whom they defraud billions of dollars, are mostly Chinese.
Angered by the Myanmar military’s refusal to stop the racketeering business, from which it almost certainly profited, Beijing covertly supported an offensive by an alliance of ethnic rebels in Shan State in late 2023. The alliance seized significant territory from the military and occupied Laukkaing, a key border town.
Who is the Ming family?
The eleven members of the Ming family are the first of Myanmar’s fraud “bosses” to be executed by China.
But they won’t be the last. Five members of the Bai family were also sentenced to death in November, and the trials of two other groups from the Wei and Liu families are still ongoing.
The Ming family’s trial was held behind closed doors, however more than 160 people attended their sentencing hearing last year, including the victims’ families.
The Ming mafia’s fraud and casino operations brought in more than 10 billion yuan (~$1.4 billion) between 2015 and 2023, according to China’s highest court, which dismissed their appeals in November. Their crimes resulted in the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and injuries to many more, the court said.
More than 20 others from the Ming family received prison sentences in September ranging from five years to life in prison. Ming Xuechang, the clan patriarch, killed himself in 2023 while trying to evade arrest, Myanmar’s military said at the time.
The testimonies of those arrested were broadcast in state media documentaries to highlight the determination of Chinese authorities to destroy fraud networks.
The Ming families were among several powerful families that rose to power in Laukkaing in the early 2000s. This happened after the then ruler of the city was overthrown in a military operation led by Min Aung Hlaing, who became the leader of Myanmar’s military government after a coup in 2021.
The head of the family, Ming Xuechang, ran one of the most notorious fraud centers in Laukkaing, the Crouching Tiger Villa.
Initially, gambling and prostitution were the main sources of income for these families, but then they started online scams, staffed mainly by people who were kidnapped and forced to work in these scams.
Within the walls of the large, well-guarded compounds was a culture of violence. Beatings and torture were routine, according to testimonies collected from released workers.
