In one of the harshest crackdowns in recent years, a Chinese court has sentenced 11 members of the notorious Ming family to death for masterminding a vast criminal empire that thrived on gambling, drugs, and online scams in Myanmar. The verdict, handed down in the eastern city of Wenzhou, is being seen as a bold statement of Beijing’s determination to dismantle the cross-border “scamdemic” that has plagued tens of thousands of victims worldwide.
According to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, a total of 39 Ming family members faced justice on Monday. Alongside the 11 death sentences, five others were given suspended death penalties, 11 received life imprisonment, and the rest were sentenced to between five and 24 years in prison.
The court revealed that since 2015, the Ming family and affiliated groups turned Laukkai, a sleepy town in Myanmar’s Shan State near the Chinese border, into a hotbed of illegal activity. Laukkai became infamous for its sprawling casinos, drug networks, prostitution rings, and above all, scam centres designed to trap unsuspecting workers and extort billions from online victims. The Ming empire alone was said to have generated more than 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) in illicit profits.
The Ming family’s notoriety was cemented by brutal control tactics. Scam workers were often lured under false promises of employment, only to be imprisoned in compounds like the infamous “Crouching Tiger Villa,” where beatings and torture were common. In one shocking incident, family enforcers reportedly shot workers who attempted to escape and return to China.
The crackdown in Myanmar began in 2023, when insurgent groups, with what many analysts believe was China’s tacit approval, ousted the military from large swathes of Shan State, including Laukkai. With the collapse of the Ming family’s stronghold, patriarch Ming Xuechang took his own life while other family members were extradited to China. Many have since made remorseful public confessions.
China’s decisive verdict is being interpreted as a warning not just to criminal syndicates, but also to neighbouring countries. Beijing has pressured Myanmar and even Thailand to close scam centres, and authorities believe that Cambodia is now becoming the next hub. Still, with billions in revenue at stake, the scam industry has proven difficult to eradicate.
The sentencing of the Ming family highlights the scale of the fight ahead. For China, the move signals a zero-tolerance stance against those who exploit its citizens through gambling and fraud. For the victims - tens of thousands trapped, tortured, and coerced - the verdict offers some measure of justice, though the scars of the “scamdemic” remain far from healed.
By: Kpost
Information Source: Bbc
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