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A China's court has handed down death sentences to a group of leading figures of a well-known Myanmar organized crime group to death as Chinese authorities persists in its campaign on fraudulent networks in South East Asia.

Altogether, 21 Bai family members and associates were convicted of fraud, homicide, assault and additional crimes, said a state media announcement posted on the judicial portal.

The group is one of a handful of organized crime groups that became dominant in the early 2000s and changed the impoverished backwater town of Laukkaing into a profitable center of gambling establishments and red-light districts.

In recent years they pivoted to illegal operations in which thousands of trafficked workers, many of them Chinese, are trapped, harmed and obligated to scam targets in criminal enterprises worth billions of dollars.

Information of the Sentencing

Syndicate leader Bai Suocheng and his heir the younger Bai were included in the several men condemned to capital punishment by the judicial body. Yang Liqiang, A third figure and Chen Guangyi were the additional punished.

Two individuals of the Bai family syndicate were given suspended death sentences. Five were condemned to life in prison, while nine others were received prison sentences ranging from a period of 3-20 years.

This family, who commanded their own private army, set up 41 compounds to house their digital scam operations and betting establishments, authorities reported.

Scale of Illegal Operations

Such illegal enterprises included exceeding 29bn yuan (over four billion dollars; £3.1bn). These activities also resulted in the demise of six Chinese citizens, the self-inflicted death of one and numerous injuries, state media stated.

The harsh penalties issued by the judicial body are within China's campaign to remove the vast scam rings in Southeast Asia - and issue a strong warning to further unlawful groups.

Context of the Clans

These families gained influence in the 2000s with the assistance of a military leader - who currently heads Myanmar's regime. He had intended to bolster associates in the town after removing its former leader.

Among the groups, the this family were "the most powerful", the son previously told state media.

"At that time, we was the leading in each of the government and military spheres," he said in a film about the Bai family, aired on Chinese state media in July.

During the report, a worker at a illegal operations narrated the harm he had experienced at the location: in addition to being assaulted, he had his fingernails extracted with tools and a couple of his fingers cut off with a blade.

More Allegations

The son is included in those who were given to execution in the latest ruling. The individual has additionally been separately convicted of conspiring to traffic and produce a large quantity of illegal drugs, state media stated.

Decline of the Families

The families' end came in last year as political winds altered.

Previously Beijing has urged the regime to control scam schemes in the area.

Last year, the authorities announced arrest warrants for the key members of such families.

The patriarch, the clan's patriarch, was among the figures who were handed to Beijing from Myanmar in the beginning of the year.

"Why is the Chinese government putting such extensive work to target the four families?" a Chinese investigator said in the summer report.

"It's to warn individuals, no matter who you are, your base, if you commit these serious offenses targeting the nationals, you will be held accountable."