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A Chinese court has sentenced five top figures of an infamous Myanmar mafia to execution as Beijing persists in its campaign on scam operations in South East Asia.

In all, twenty-one clan individuals and collaborators were sentenced of scams, murder, injury and additional offenses, said a state media report published on the judicial website.

The family is among a few of syndicates that gained influence in the 2000s and transformed the underdeveloped backwater town of the town into a lucrative base of gambling establishments and red-light districts.

Recently they turned to fraudulent schemes in which thousands of trafficked people, a large number of them Chinese, are ensnared, abused and obligated to defraud victims in criminal enterprises worth billions of dollars.

Specifics of the Verdict

Mafia head the patriarch and his offspring the younger Bai were among the several men given to execution by the court in Shenzhen. Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang and A fourth person were the other three convicted.

Two individuals of the clan mafia were handed conditional death penalties. Several were given to life in prison, while nine others were handed jail sentences varying from a period of 3-20 years.

The Bais, who controlled their own militia, established 41 compounds to house their cyberscam operations and gambling houses, government reported.

Scale of Unlawful Operations

These illegal activities involved exceeding 29 billion Chinese yuan (over four billion dollars; over three billion pounds). These activities also led to the deaths of several from China individuals, the suicide of an individual and numerous assaults, official sources reported.

The harsh penalties delivered by the judicial body are part of the Chinese campaign to remove the large scam networks in South East Asia - and issue a firm signal to other criminal groups.

History of the Families

These clans rose to power in the early 2000s with the support of Min Aung Hlaing - who now leads Myanmar's regime. The leader had aimed to support associates in Laukkaing after ousting its former warlord.

Within the groups, the this family were "absolutely number one", Bai Yingcang before stated to state media.

Back then, our Bai family was the leading in both the government and military arenas," he said in a documentary about the clan, aired on national media in July.

Within that report, a individual at one of their scam centres narrated the abuse he had endured there: besides being assaulted, he had his nails extracted with pliers and a couple of his fingers cut off with a tool.

Additional Accusations

Bai Yingcang is included in those who were condemned to execution recently. He has additionally been independently sentenced of conspiring to smuggle and manufacture a large quantity of narcotics, state media reported.

End of the Clans

Their downfall came in recent times as situations shifted.

Previously Chinese authorities has encouraged the regime to rein in scam operations in Laukkaing.

Last year, the authorities issued detention orders for the most prominent members of these groups.

The patriarch, the clan's leader, was among the warlords who were extradited to Beijing from the country in recent months.

"Why is the authorities making so much effort to pursue the groups?" a Chinese investigator commented in the July report.

This serves as a warning other people, no matter who you are, your location, as long as you commit such terrible acts targeting the Chinese people, you will pay the price."