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One China's judicial body has sentenced five top members of an infamous Myanmar mafia to capital punishment as Beijing continues its campaign on scam networks in South East Asia.

Overall, twenty-one clan members and associates were sentenced of fraud, murder, injury and various crimes, reported a official report posted on the court portal.

The group is among a small number of organized crime groups that became dominant in the 2000s and changed the impoverished isolated region of Laukkaing into a lucrative center of gambling establishments and red-light districts.

Over the past few years they turned to scams in which many of illegally moved workers, several of them from China, are ensnared, abused and obligated to cheat targets in criminal enterprises estimated at billions.

Specifics of the Sentencing

Mafia head the patriarch and his offspring Bai Yingcang were included in the several individuals sentenced to capital punishment by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang and Chen Guangyi were the other three convicted.

A couple of individuals of the Bai family mafia were given suspended death sentences. Several were given to permanent incarceration, while nine others were handed prison terms ranging from three to 20 years.

The Bais, who commanded their own armed group, established 41 compounds to house their online fraud schemes and gambling houses, government reported.

Extent of Criminal Operations

Such illegal enterprises included more than 29bn yuan ($4.1bn; £3.1bn). These activities also led to the fatalities of several from China nationals, the suicide of one and multiple harm, state media stated.

The harsh punishments delivered by the judicial body are within the Chinese effort to remove the vast scam rings in Southeast Asia - and send a firm message to other criminal syndicates.

Background of the Clans

Such families became dominant in the early 2000s with the support of a military leader - who currently heads Myanmar's regime. He had intended to bolster allies in the town after replacing its earlier leader.

Among the groups, the Bais were "the most powerful", Bai Yingcang earlier informed state media.

Back then, the clan was the leading in each of the political and armed arenas," he said in a film about the Bai family, aired on national media in July.

During the report, a employee at one of fraud facilities recalled the abuse he had suffered there: in addition to being assaulted, he had his fingernails removed with tools and two of his digits amputated with a blade.

Additional Allegations

The son is included in those who were condemned to execution in the latest ruling. He has also been independently found guilty of organizing to smuggle and manufacture eleven tons of methamphetamine, reports reported.

End of the Families

Their fall came in 2023 as circumstances altered.

Over a long period Chinese authorities has encouraged the local government to rein in fraudulent schemes in Laukkaing.

Last year, the Chinese police issued detention orders for the key members of such clans.

The patriarch, the Bai family's patriarch, was among the warlords who were extradited to Beijing from Myanmar in the beginning of the year.

"Why is the authorities putting so much effort to go after the clans?" a expert said in the summer film.

This serves as a warning groups, regardless of your identity, your base, as long as you carry out these terrible crimes against the nationals, you will pay the price."