China has sentenced five leading members of a notorious Myanmar-based mafia group to death, marking one of the harshest crackdowns yet in Beijing’s campaign against cross-border scam and gambling operations in Southeast Asia.
The Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court on Monday, November 3rd, handed down death sentences to Bai Suocheng, his son Bai Yingcang, and three associates—Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang, and Chen Guangyi—for crimes including fraud, homicide, and intentional injury. The verdict also convicted 21 members of the Bai family and its associates, with others receiving life imprisonment or sentences ranging from three to 20 years.
According to state media, the Bai family, long regarded as one of Laukkaing’s most powerful clans, operated a sprawling criminal empire that combined gambling, human trafficking, and online scams. At its peak, the organization controlled 41 compounds in Laukkaing, a border town once known for its casinos and red-light trade. Their operations defrauded victims of more than CNY29 billion ($4.1 billion) and led to the deaths and injuries of multiple Chinese citizens.
The Bai family’s influence stretched back to the 2000s, when it rose to prominence with the support of Myanmar’s current military leader Min Aung Hlaing. Initially running casinos and vice establishments, the group later pivoted to online scam centers that exploited thousands of trafficked workers, many of them Chinese, who were beaten, tortured, and forced to defraud others.
In a 2024 state media documentary, Bai Yingcang himself boasted of the family’s dominance, saying the Bais were “the most powerful in both the political and military circles.” The same program featured testimonies from victims describing brutal abuse inside scam compounds, including torture with pliers and machetes.
Authorities said Bai Yingcang was also separately convicted of conspiring to traffic and manufacture 11 tonnes of methamphetamine. His father, Bai Suocheng, was handed over to China by Myanmar authorities earlier this year as part of a joint law enforcement effort.
The sentences come amid Beijing’s intensified push to dismantle transnational crime networks operating in northern Myanmar, many of which have been linked to gambling and online scam hubs targeting Chinese nationals. In September, 11 members of another prominent Laukkaing clan—the Ming family—were also sentenced to death.
