China is sending a chilling message to cross-border criminals: the party’s over. In a dramatic move, four members of the powerful Bai family, a notorious crime dynasty, have been executed. This comes hot on the heels of eleven members of the Ming family mafia also facing the death penalty. These executions mark a major escalation in Beijing’s relentless war against massive scam operations based in Southeast Asia.
For years, the Bai and Ming families ruled the Myanmar border town of Laukkaing with an iron fist. This area became a dark hub for casinos, red-light districts, and, most disturbingly, sophisticated cyber scam centers. The Bai family, controlling its own militia, even built sprawling compounds where fraud, beatings, and torture were routine. Their victims? Thousands of Chinese citizens, lured and defrauded out of billions of dollars.
The human cost of these criminal empires was staggering. The United Nations estimates that hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Chinese, were trafficked and forced into running these online scams. The Bais were considered the most powerful, with authorities uncovering crimes that led to six Chinese deaths, one suicide, and numerous injuries.
Their downfall began when China, frustrated by Myanmar’s inaction, tacitly supported an insurgent offensive that ultimately led to the capture of these scam bosses. They were handed over to China, put on trial, and convicted of severe crimes including fraud and homicide.
These recent executions, publicly highlighted by state media, are a stark warning. Beijing is determined to dismantle these networks and protect its citizens from the devastating impact of these sophisticated, brutal scams. It’s a clear statement: crime doesn’t pay, especially when it targets the Chinese people.
