Yangon (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A Chinese court has sentenced to death 16 members of the Ming family, a powerful crime syndicate from the Kokang region in northern Myanmar’s Shan State involved in illicit trade linked to online scam rings, which China has dealt with harshly.
According to Chinese media, the Wenzhou Intermediate Court in the eastern province of Zhejiang found 39 defendants guilty of 14 offences, including fraud, intentional murder, and wilful injuries.
The sentences varied: 16 death penalties, five of which with a two-year reprieve; 11 life imprisonments; several custodial sentences ranging from five to 24 years. Some of the defendants were also fined and had their assets confiscated.
The prosecution alleged that, starting in 2015, the Ming family exploited its influence in the Kokang region to form an armed faction and set up several "parks" consisting of buildings to carry out online scams.
The armed group formed alliances with other gangs to provide protection for its illicit activities: telecom scams, drug trafficking, prostitution, casinos, and online gambling.
The estimated proceeds from fraud and gambling exceeded 10 billion yuan, or around US$ 1.4 billion, according to the prosecution.
At the centre of the case was the Crouching Tiger Villa, a compound used for online scams owned by Ming Xuechang, the family patriarch.
On 20 October 2023, guards at the complex opened fire on workers trying to escape with many casualties, including 14 Chinese nationals, some of whom, according to unverified reports, were undercover security agents sent by Beijing.
Among those sentenced to death are Ming Xuechang’s son, Ming Xiaoping (also known as Ming Guoping), and his granddaughter, Ming Zhenzhen. However, his daughter, Ming Julan, is not included; her arrest was initially announced but not officially confirmed by Myanmar’s junta.
Ming Xuechang, 69, was arrested in November 2023 along with other family members after China pressured Myanmar to dismantle the Kokang crime groups. According to Myanmar authorities, the family patriarch shot himself during the arrest and later died from his wounds.
Before his downfall, the senior Ming had been a member of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone and had sat in the Shan State legislature, representing the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), a party linked to Myanmar’s military.
The crackdown against the Ming family is part of Beijing’s extensive campaign against transnational phone scams.
China’s Ministry of Public Security reported that, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) alone, Chinese police solved 1.74 million fraud cases, dismantled over two thousand overseas scam rings, and arrested more than 80,000 suspects.
Recently, the China-linked militia that controls Wa State, an area also on the border between China and Myanmar, stepped up deportations to China. In the last nine months alone, 448 people suspected of online fraud were sent to China, in a dozen operations coordinated with Chinese authorities.
