China has carried out the execution of eleven members of a notorious mafia family based in northern Myanmar, authorities confirmed on Thursday. The Ming family, one of the infamous "four families" operating in the region, was responsible for a vast criminal empire that included kidnapping people to work in scam centres and running illegal gambling dens.
Sentenced for Multiple Crimes
The Wenzhou city Intermediate People's Court announced the executions in a statement on Thursday morning, following the denial of an appeal. The group, which included Ming Guoping, Ming Zhenzhen, Zhou Weichang, Wu Hongming, and Luao Jianzhang, had been sentenced to death in September for a host of serious offences.
They were found guilty of killing fourteen Chinese citizens, as well as charges of illegal detention and fraud. The criminal syndicate they operated was valued at more than one billion dollars, with scams alone generating over ten billion yuan in the eight years leading up to their arrest in 2013.
Transforming Laukkaing into a Criminal Hub
Historically, the Ming family ran their operations from the town of Laukkaing in Myanmar, transforming it into a glitzy hub filled with casinos and red-light districts. From this base, they trafficked hundreds of thousands of people to run online scams, according to United Nations reports.
The family's patriarch, Ming Xuechang, was known for running one of Laukkaing's most notorious scam centres, Crouching Tiger Villa, which was primarily staffed by kidnapped individuals. Myanmar's military claimed that Xuechang took his own life in 2023 to avoid capture.
International Pressure on Criminal Activity
The members of the Ming group were detained in 2013 after Chinese authorities pressured authorities in border areas shared with Myanmar to crack down on scams. Scam parks have grown to an industrial-scale business in Southeast Asia, particularly in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos.
Authorities in the region face increasing international pressure from China, the United States, and other nations to address the proliferation of such criminal activities. In recent years, China has executed more people than any other country, sometimes exceeding the combined total of all other nations worldwide.
This case highlights the severe measures being taken against organised crime networks that exploit vulnerable individuals and operate across borders in Southeast Asia.
