Key facts
- Three leaders of a Myanmar crime syndicate were sentenced to death in China on Tuesday.
- The sentences were for operating large-scale cross-border telecoms fraud networks.
- The gang was also involved in drug trafficking, prostitution, illegal casinos, and murder.
- The operations of the Wei family criminal gang netted over 12.2 billion yuan ($1.8 billion).
- Police found remains of victims with bullet holes and bound with iron chains.
- The gang operated 14 large-scale scam compounds in Myanmar's Kokang region.
Chinese courts have sentenced three key figures of a notorious Myanmar crime syndicate to death for operating large-scale cross-border telecoms fraud networks and causing the deaths of Chinese nationals. The Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court and the Nanan City People’s Court in Fujian province handed down the rulings against syndicate head Wei Huairen, his nephew Chen Dawei, and accomplice Liao Jingfang on Tuesday.
The Wei family criminal gang was found guilty of crimes including drug trafficking, organizing prostitution, operating illegal casinos, telecommunications fraud, and the murder of at least two Chinese citizens, according to the court. The gang's operations netted more than 12.2 billion yuan ($1.8 billion).
Another three gang members were handed life sentences, while 55 more received prison terms ranging from 24 years to three years and three months. Police had also discovered remains of victims bound with iron chains and with bullet holes in their skulls, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The gang operated 14 large-scale scam compounds in Myanmar's Kokang region, luring Chinese nationals with fake promises of high wages.
Analysts describe the Wei clan as one of the "four families" running crime syndicates in Kokang. China has intensified its cooperation with Southeast Asian nations to combat the vast industry of scam centers that has flourished in the region, fleecing people out of billions of dollars. The United Nations has warned that Chinese and Southeast Asian gangs are generating tens of billions of dollars annually through these cyber scam centers, which have spread globally.