China executes 11 members of Myanmar-based group in crackdown on scam operations

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Myanmar police hand over five telecom and internet fraud suspects to Chinese police at Yangon International Airport in Yangon, Myanmar, Aug. 26, 2023. (Chinese Embassy in Myanmar/Xinhua via AP)

BANGKOK — China executed 11 people it found guilty of killing 14 Chinese citizens and running scam and gambling operations worth more than US$1 billion, authorities said.

The Wenzhou city Intermediate People’s Court announced the executions in a statement Thursday morning. It sentenced the 11 people to death in September. They included Ming Guoping and Ming Zhenzhen, members of the Ming family who the court found led the scam and gambling operations, as well as Zhou Weichang, Wu Hongming and Luao Jianzhang, who were named by the court as other key members of the operations.

The group filed an appeal that was rejected by the court in November but the court documents were not made public at the time.

Members of the group were detained in November 2023 when Chinese authorities exerted pressure on authorities in the border areas shared with Myanmar to crack down on scams.

Scam parks have become an industrial scale business in Southeast Asia, especially Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, where a mix of trafficked and willing labour have carried out digital scams on victims around the world.

Authorities in the region face growing international pressure from China, the U.S. and other nations to address the proliferation of criminal activity.

Huizhong Wu, The Associated Press