China on Thursday executed 11 members of a Chinese crime family in connection to scam centers being run in Myanmar. File Photo by Mark R. Cristino/EPA-EFE
China on Thursday executed 11 members of the Ming-family crime syndicate in connection with the running of online scam centers in civil war-torn Myanmar, according to state-run media.
The 11 gang members were executed by the Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court of Zhejiang province, Xinhua reported. The method of execution was not mentioned, though death sentences are carried out either by firing squad or lethal injection.
The Ming-family crime syndicate is one of several criminal organizations that have taken advantage of the ongoing civil war in Myanmar to generate billions from running online scam centers using human trafficking, forced labor and torture in the Asian nation.
Those executed Thursday were sentenced to death in September for intentional homicide, intentional injury, illegal detention, fraud and operating gambling establishments.
The court found that they had been operating several Myanmar scam centers engaged in telecom fraud, illegal gambling and other crimes.
Two of the members appealed their conviction in September, but the verdict was upheld in November.
China’s Supreme People’s Court reviewed the case and confirmed the criminal syndicate had established the compounds in northern Myanmar’s Kokang region, where they recruited financiers and provided armed protection for the scheme, generating more than $1.4 billion in illicit funds, according to state-run media.
The group was also found to have conspired with other organizations running scam centers to deliberately kill, injure or illegally detain workers, resulting in the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens, the high court found.
China is believed to have conducted more executions than any other country, though its use of the death penalty, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office, “remains shrouded in secrecy, making it difficult to obtain accurate numbers.”
Amnesty International has said that China is believed to execute thousands a year.
