China executes 11 members of dangerous gang
By BBC, January 29, 2026China has executed 11 members of a notorious family that ran scam centres in Myanmar, state media report.
A court in Zhejiang province sentenced the Ming family members for crimes including homicide, illegal detention, fraud, and operating gambling dens last September.
The Ming family was one of several clans that ran Myanmar’s sleepy town of Laukkaing, close to the border with China. Under their rule, the impoverished backwater was transformed into a flashy hub of casinos and red-light districts.
Their scam empire came crashing down in 2023, when they were detained and handed over to China by ethnic militias that had taken control of Laukkaing amid the ongoing civil war.
The scam operations in Myanmar had trapped thousands of Chinese workers over the years. These workers were among hundreds of thousands trafficked into the compounds, where they were forced to scam people overseas.
Last year, the Chinese internet went viral with stories of a small-time actor who had flown to Thailand for an acting gig but was instead taken to a scam centre in Myanmar. Incidents like these added to the frustration in Beijing, which had long demanded that Myanmar’s junta rein in the scam mafia.
Ultimately, an escalation in the junta’s conflict with ethnic armies led to the downfall of the mafia in Laukkaing.
According to China’s highest court, the Ming mafia’s scam operations and gambling dens brought in more than Ksh36T (¥53B) between 2015 and 2023. Their appeals were rejected by the court in November.
The crimes of the Ming family resulted in the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and injuries to many others, the court said.