China court condemns three Myanmar border crime syndicate leaders to death

A court in China has condemned three leaders of an infamous cross-border criminal syndicate to death, following an extensive crackdown on telecommunications fraud and violent crime based along the Myanmar border.

The Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court announced on Tuesday that capital sentences were handed down to Wei Huairen, Chen Dawei, and Liao Jingfang for their roles in the Wei family criminal syndicate. The organization operated out of the Kokang territory in northern Myanmar, bordering southern China, where it ran an extensive web of illicit scam facilities alongside other illicit ventures.

The court found the group guilty of numerous severe offenses, including the murder of at least two Chinese citizens, telecom fraud, drug trafficking, running unlicensed casinos, and organizing prostitution. Wei Huairen, recognized as a primary leader of the faction, was convicted of multiple charges including intentional homicide.

Authorities calculated that the enterprise amassed over 12.2 billion yuan, equivalent to roughly 1.8 billion US dollars, through its illicit schemes. Alongside the three capital punishments, the tribunal sentenced three individuals to life imprisonment and handed down prison terms ranging between three years and three months and 24 years to an additional 55 participants.

Observers categorize the Wei clan as one of the four prominent family-led crime syndicates that long held sway in Kokang. Chinese state media broadcaster CCTV characterized the syndicate as northern Myanmar's most violent criminal faction, asserting that it established an interconnected web uniting business interests, local politics, and armed enforcement.

According to state media reports, the gang managed 14 major compounds designed for telecommunications fraud. Thousands of individuals, primarily Chinese nationals, were deceived into traveling across the border with false promises of lucrative employment, only to be held in secure, prison-like sites and compelled to conduct online swindles targeting victims globally. Investigators discovered the remains of victims that bore signs of extreme violence, including bullet wounds to the head and iron bindings.

The rulings follow earlier efforts by Beijing and Southeast Asian governments to dismantle telecom fraud networks in the borderlands. Members of the Wei faction were initially charged in October 2025. The verdicts follow the executions earlier this year of multiple figures from other powerful Kokang syndicates, including members of the Ming and Bai families, who were put to death after convictions for violent crimes, extortion, kidnapping, and fraud.