- China cracks down on notorious Ming triad family empire
- Rebels stormed Laukkaing, freeing trafficked scam center workers
- Beijing shifts stance, once tolerated warlords now prosecuted
Eleven members of a notorious triad family that operated scam centers, online gambling and casinos targeting Chinese citizens from across the Myanmar border have been sentenced to death by a court in eastern China.
The Ming family’s operations were based in the city of Laukkaing in Myanmar’s semi-lawless Shan State. Since 2015, the family engaged in criminal activities, including telecommunications fraud, illegal casinos, drug trafficking, and prostitution worth around $1.4 billion, according to Chinese state media.
The court also found that the family and other criminal groups were responsible for the deaths of several scam center workers, some of whom had been shot to stop them from returning to China.
Triad Warlords
Among the 11 handed death sentences at Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court were Ming bosses Ming Guoping, Ming Zhenzhen, and Zhou Weichang. Another five received death sentences with two-year suspensions, while 11 were imprisoned for life, and 12 more given sentences ranging from five to 24 years.
The Mings were vassals to the three powerful triad warlords, Bai Suocheng, Wei Chaoren, and Liu Zhengxiang, who, until recently, ruled Laukkaing and nearby Kongyang Township – collectively the Kokang self-administered zone – as their own personal fiefdom.
Under the triads, Kokang was transformed from a sleepy backwater into a casino hub that became a hotspot for criminal activity, where “workers, mostly Chinese nationals or ethnic Chinese, were bought, sold and traded; and then beaten, tortured or killed when they didn’t reach financial targets or tried to escape,” according to The Washington Post.
The three families enjoyed near autonomy in the region – long a stronghold of ethnic rebel groups – in return for their support of Myanmar’s military government.
Rebel Assault
In November 2023, ethnic rebels fighting against the junta stormed Laukkaing, freeing trafficked workers and seizing members of the ruling triad families. The rebels may have been emboldened by Chinese authorities issuing warrants for the arrest of key members of the three families.
Until then, Beijing had cooperated with the warlords, whom they saw as convenient partners for cross-border trade, but their excesses had apparently become intolerable.
Bai, Wei, and Liu were forced to flee as the rebels advanced on the city and were intercepted shortly after by junta forces, according to Chinese state media. Because of the warrants, the regime had little choice but to turn them over to the regional superpower, and it’s likely the Mings were caught in the same net.
Bai is currently standing trial in Shenzhen, while the fate of Wei and Liu remains uncertain.
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