BEIJING — China has executed 11 members of the notorious Ming family criminal gang, who operated mafia-style scam centers in Myanmar and killed workers who tried to escape, Chinese state media reported Thursday.
The Ming family was among the so-called “four families” of northern Myanmar crime syndicates accused of running hundreds of compounds involved in internet fraud, prostitution, and drug production, with some members holding prominent positions in local government and militia aligned with Myanmar’s junta.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the 11 individuals were sentenced to death in September after being found guilty of crimes including homicide, illegal detention, and fraud. Two defendants appealed, but the case was upheld by China’s Supreme People’s Court, the country’s highest judicial authority.
The gang, led by Ming Xuechang, was long associated with the infamous Crouching Tiger Villa compound in Kokang, an autonomous region on Myanmar’s border with China. At its peak, the group reportedly employed 10,000 people to carry out scams and other criminal operations, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
The capital of Kokang, Laukkaing, became the center of a multibillion-dollar scam industry in lawless areas of Myanmar, where trafficked workers were forced to run sophisticated online fraud schemes targeting strangers.
After years of complaints from relatives of trafficked workers and growing international media scrutiny, Beijing launched a crackdown on the compounds in 2023. In November of that year, China issued arrest warrants for the family members, accusing them of fraud, murder, and human trafficking, offering rewards between $14,000 and $70,000 for their capture.
Ming Xuechang, who had also served as a Myanmar state parliament member, later committed suicide while in custody, Chinese state media reported. Among those executed Thursday were his son, Ming Guoping, a leader in the junta-aligned Kokang Border Guard Force, and his granddaughter, Ming Zhenzhen. They were allowed to meet close relatives before their execution, Xinhua reported.
The Ming family gang also conspired with another syndicate leader, Wu Hongming, who was executed, to intentionally kill, injure, and illegally detain scam workers, resulting in the deaths of 14 Chinese nationals, according to Xinhua.
In one October 2023 incident, four people were killed when gang members allegedly opened fire on scam workers during a transfer under armed guard after learning that police planned a raid of the compound.
Scamming gangs in Southeast Asia are estimated to steal over $43 billion annually, according to the United States Institute of Peace. In Myanmar, scam compounds have thrived in areas saturated with corruption and lawlessness, and criminal syndicates have taken advantage of nearly five years of civil war to expand their operations.
A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, when asked about the executions, said Beijing would continue to intensify efforts to “eradicate the scourge of gambling and fraud.”
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
