China has carried out executions of four members of the Bai family crime group which was known for running scam centres in Myanmar according to state media. They were among twenty one family members and associates found guilty by a court in Guangdong province. The charges included fraud murder causing injury and other serious crimes.
In November last year the court handed down death sentences to five people from the group. One of them was the family leader Bai Suocheng who later died from illness after the verdict. Earlier this month China also executed eleven members of the Ming family crime group. This was part of a wider crackdown on scam networks in South East Asia that have trapped thousands of Chinese victims.
For many years the Bai family the Ming family and several other groups controlled the Myanmar border town of Laukkaing. They ran casinos red light areas and large online scam operations. Among these groups the Bai family was seen as the most powerful. Bai Suocheng son once told state media after his arrest that his family ranked first among the clans.
Authorities say the Bai family had its own armed group and built forty one separate compounds used for scam centres and casinos. Inside these sites violence was common and beatings and torture were regularly reported. The court said the Bai family criminal activities caused the deaths of six Chinese citizens. One person took their own life and many others were injured because of the group actions.