BEIJING: China on Thursday (Jan 29) executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” involved in telecom scam operations, state media reported.
They were sentenced to death in September by a court in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou, Xinhua said, adding that the court also carried out the executions.
Among the executed were members of the “Ming family criminal group”, whose activities had contributed to the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and injuries to “many others”.
Fraud compounds have flourished in Myanmar’s lawless borderlands, part of a multibillion-dollar illicit industry.
The centres are typically staffed by foreigners – including many Chinese – with many saying they were trafficked and forced to swindle people online.
Their crimes included “intentional homicide, intentional injury, unlawful detention, fraud and casino establishment”, the report said.
“The criminals’ close relatives were allowed to meet with them before the execution,” Xinhua added.
The death sentences had been approved by the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing, which found that the evidence produced of crimes committed since 2015 was “conclusive and sufficient”, Xinhua said.
Beijing has stepped up cooperation with Southeast Asian nations in recent years to crack down on the compounds, and thousands of people have been repatriated to China.
Last year, China’s Public Security Ministry said more than 7,600 Chinese nationals suspected of online gambling and telecom fraud were repatriated from Myawaddy, a town on the southeastern Myanmar border with Thailand.
Earlier this month, Cambodia extradited to China tycoon Chen Zhi, who the US says chairs a conglomerate that is a front for a multibillion-dollar cyberscam network.
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