China executes 11 members of notorious mafia family that ran billion-dollar scam network
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: CCTV/Handout
China has executed 11 individuals from the Ming family who were found guilty of a whole host of crimes, including a billion-dollar scam.
In September, Members of the mafia Ming family were sentenced to death last year for numerous charges that included killing 14 Chinese citizens, illegal detention, fraud and a billion-dollar scam.
After the sentence was passed, the group filed for an appeal, which was rejected in November. Wenzhou City Intermediate People's Court announced the completion of the sentence on Thursday.
Throughout their family’s operation, they brought in more than £1,000,000,000 each year, beginning in 2015.
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They did this by luring people online into romantic relationships using trafficked workers and swindling them out of cryptocurrency investments.
According to a Metro report, the head of the Ming family, Ming Xuechang, took his own life to avoid detention along with his other family members when they were being arrested in 2023.
The scam centre would operate in Myanmar and mainly target Chinese speakers. Their base of operations was a small town close to Myanmar's border with China, Laukkaing, which was handed over to the Chinese authorities during a conflict between Myanmar and militias, according to the BBC.
In 2023, authorities captured the family, then extradited them to China to face trial.
The court's handing of a death sentence was also approved by the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing, which said that the evidence of the crimes was 'conclusive and sufficient'.
Some family members confessed to their crimes in court and appeared remorseful. As well as the eleven family members who were executed, more than 20 others were given jail sentences ranging from five years to life.
Individuals who were kidnapped and forced to run some of the operations also gave testimonies ahead of the execution, where they claimed that the place where they operated was well-guarded and it was full of violence, with beatings and torture being routine.
China has shown it is committed to cracking down on scam operations along its borders.
The UN has said that it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked to run online scams in Myanmar and elsewhere in South East Asia, like Cambodia and Laos.
Frustrated by the Myanmar military’s inability to stop the scams, China backed an offensive by an ethnic insurgent alliance in Shan State in late 2023.
The BBC reports that the Ming family aren't the only one to face execution, as five members of another family were sentenced to death in November, while the trials for two other families have yet to be concluded.