China executes scammers

China 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 empires came crashing down in 2023, when they were detained and handed over to China by ethnic militias that had taken control of Laukkaing in the ongoing civil war.

The scam operations in Myanmar have trapped thousands of Chinese workers over the years - they are among the hundreds of thousands who have been trafficked into these compounds, where they are forced to scam people overseas.

Last year, the Chinese internet saw a viral search for a small-time Chinese actor who had flown to Thailand for an acting gig but was instead taken to a scam centre in Myanmar. Stories like these added to the frustration in Beijing, which had long been demanding that Myanmar's junta rein in the scam mafia.

In the end, it was an escalation in the junta's conflict with ethnic armies that led to the downfall of the mafia in Laukkaing.

The Ming mafia's scam operations and gambling dens brought in more than 10bn yuan ($1.4bn; £1bn) between 2015 and 2023, according to China's highest court, which rejected their appeals in November.

Their crimes resulted in the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and injuries to many others, the court said.

-BBC