China on Tuesday handed out death sentences to three leading members of a criminal gang led by the Wei family, which carried out criminal activities, including telecom fraud and gambling, in Myanmar.

Three others were sentenced to life imprisonment, while another 55 face jail terms ranging from three years and three months to 24 years, according to rulings made by the Intermediate People's Court of Quanzhou and people's court of Nan'an, both in Fujian.

China has stepped up cooperation with Southeast Asian nations to crack down on a vast industry that has flourished in the region in recent years to fleece people out of billions of US dollars.

Those conducting the online scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals – many Chinese – tricked themselves into work and held in prison-like compounds.

The Quanzhou court said in a statement it had sentenced Wei Huairen, Chen Dawei, and Liao Jingfang to death for their involvement in the "Wei family criminal gang".

The gang was involved in crimes including drug trafficking, organising prostitution, operating illegal casinos, telecommunications fraud, and the murder of at least two Chinese citizens, it said.

Wei Huairen was identified as one of the group's leaders and found guilty of several crimes including murder.

The gang's operations netted more than 12.2 billion yuan.

Analysts describe the Wei clan as one of the "four families" running crime syndicates in Kokang.

Broadcaster CCTV called them the "most violent criminal force in northern Myanmar", having created an "iron triangle of political, military, and business criminal activities".

It described the gang as operating 14 "large-scale" scam compounds and luring "large numbers" of Chinese to Myanmar through fake promises of high wages.

Police had also discovered remains of victims bound with iron chains and with bullet holes in their skulls, CCTV said.

Members of the Wei family were first indicted in October 2025.

In January, China executed 11 people, including members of the "Ming family criminal gang".

The following month, four members of the notorious Bai clan were executed for crimes including "fraud, intentional homicide, intentional injury, kidnapping, extortion". (Xinhua & AFP)


Edited by Aaron Tam