A Chinese court has sentenced five senior figures of a notorious Myanmar mafia, the Bai family, to death as Beijing intensifies its crackdown on scam operations across Southeast Asia. The syndicate was involved in a range of crimes, including telecom fraud, illicit gambling, kidnapping, extortion, and forced prostitution.

Five Bai Family Gangsters Sentenced to Death by Chinese Court

Among those sentenced to death by the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court were mafia leader Bai Saw Chain and his son Bai Yin Chin, along with Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang, and Chen Guangyi. In addition, two members of the Bai family mafia received suspended death sentences, five were given life imprisonment, and nine others were handed prison terms ranging from three to 20 years.

The syndicate’s activities resulted in the deaths of six Chinese nationals and injuries to several others, with one victim reportedly committing suicide. Authorities estimated that the total losses from gambling and fraud surpassed CNY 29 billion (about $4.06 billion).

Bai Yin Chin was additionally convicted of conspiring with others to manufacture and smuggle around 11 tonnes of methamphetamine. The sentencing was attended by Chinese legislators, political advisers, and family members of the defendants, highlighting Beijing’s intensified crackdown on transnational online fraud operations targeting Chinese citizens from neighboring Southeast Asian countries.

What Was the Bai Family, and How Powerful Were They?

The family is one of a few mafia groups that gained prominence in the 2000s, turning the once-impoverished town of Laukkaing into a profitable center for casinos and red-light districts. In recent years, they have shifted to large-scale scams, exploiting thousands of trafficked workers, many from China, who are trapped, abused, and forced to participate in criminal operations generating billions in revenue. 

According to authorities, the Bais, who maintained their own militia, set up 41 compounds to facilitate both their cyberscam operations and casino ventures. Bai Yin Chin previously told state media that, among the clans, the Bais were “undisputedly number one.”

The families’ decline occurred in 2023 as the political climate shifted. For years, Beijing had pressured the Myanmar junta to clamp down on scam operations in Laukkaing. In 2023, Chinese authorities issued arrest warrants for the most prominent members of these families.

A year later, Bai Yin Chin was among the warlords who were handed over to Beijing from Myanmar, ultimately sealing the fate of the criminal family.