Chinese court hands death sentences to 16 people linked to Myanmar crime family

A Chinese court sentenced 16 people linked to a notorious Myanmar-based telecoms fraud group to death on Monday for crimes including fraud, drug trafficking and prostitution.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, prosecutors in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang found that since 2015 the Ming family crime gang had used its influence in Myanmar’s Kokang region to set up a number of “parks” and collude with financial backers to carry out criminal activities.

Those activities – encompassing telecoms fraud, gambling operations, drug trafficking and organised prostitution – involved more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion).

The Ming family, along with other criminal groups, “killed and injured people involved in fraud who tried to escape or disobeyed them”, according to the report.

The Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court heard that in October 2023 the gang opened fire on its Chinese captives – killing four – to prevent them from being handed over to China.

Telecom fraud suspects arrested in Myanmar are handed over to Chinese police on November 16, 2023. Photo: China’s Ministry of Public Security

Five of those sentenced to death were given a two-year reprieve, after which sentences may be commuted to life imprisonment. Among the remaining 11 defendants with no reprieve were Ming Guoping, also known as Mg Myin Shaut Phyin, whose father was Ming Xuechang, a Chinese-Myanmar national who led the Ming crime group.

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