Khaberni - The Chinese authorities carried out the death sentences for 11 individuals from a Myanmar criminal family known as the "Ming family", after they were convicted of committing widespread crimes including romantic relationship scams, as well as premeditated murder and other violent crimes.
According to what the "Daily Mail" newspaper reported from the official Chinese news agency "Xinhua" that a court in the city of Wenzhou in East China issued the death sentences in September, before they were carried out on Thursday, after the Supreme People's Court in Beijing ratified the sentences, stating that the evidence presented about the crimes committed since 2015 was decisive and sufficient.
According to global media outlets, the criminal activities of the Ming family group resulted in the deaths of at least 14 Chinese citizens and injured many, due to systematic fraud operations that included illegal detention and torture of victims and workers in fraud centers.
The agency added that the authorities allowed the relatives of the sentenced to meet them before the execution, which was carried out in accordance with the applicable Chinese laws, either by lethal injection or by a firing squad.
This network collapsed in 2023, after it was detained by ethnic militias that took over the city of Laukaing in Myanmar, amidst escalating clashes with the Myanmar army, before their members were handed over to the Chinese authorities.
Criminal networks in Asia
This case is part of a wider wave of cybercrime that has spread across Southeast Asia, where criminal networks lure victims online with fake emotional relationships or fake cryptocurrency investments, especially in the uncontrollable border areas of Myanmar.
While these gangs initially targeted Chinese speakers, they later expanded to include victims from various countries around the world, using labor that was sometimes forced to work under coercive conditions inside fraud centers.
In April last year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime warned of the global expansion of the cyber fraud industry to include Africa, South America, the Middle East, and Europe, indicating that hundreds of thousands work within these networks globally.
It should be noted that the Chinese court issued, in addition to the executed death sentences, other penalties including life imprisonment and terms of up to five years against 23 accused, in addition to issuing death sentences with a two-year suspension for five others.
The recent executions come at a time when Beijing is intensifying its cooperation with the countries of the region to pursue fraud networks, amid widespread attention in China to these cases due to the billions of dollars in losses they cause annually.
