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One Chinese court has handed down death sentences to several top individuals of a well-known Burmese mafia to death as Chinese authorities persists in its crackdown on scam networks in South East Asia.

Altogether, twenty-one clan individuals and collaborators were convicted of scams, murder, injury and various offenses, reported a official report published on the judicial portal.

The group is one of a few of syndicates that rose to power in the last two decades and changed the impoverished isolated region of Laukkaing into a wealthy base of casinos and red-light districts.

Over the past few years they shifted to scams in which many of smuggled individuals, many of them Chinese, are caught, harmed and obligated to defraud victims in unlawful operations estimated at billions.

Information of the Judgment

Syndicate leader the patriarch and his heir Bai Yingcang were included in the several individuals given to execution by the judicial body. Another individual, Hu Xiaojiang and Chen Guangyi were the additional punished.

A couple of figures of the clan mafia were handed conditional death penalties. Five were sentenced to life in prison, while more figures were given jail terms varying from three to 20 years.

The clan, who commanded their own private army, set up 41 bases to host their cyberscam operations and gambling houses, government stated.

Magnitude of Illegal Activities

Such unlawful enterprises involved exceeding twenty-nine billion Chinese yuan ($4.1bn; £3.1 billion). They also led to the deaths of six from China nationals, the suicide of one and multiple assaults, reports stated.

The severe sentences delivered by the judicial body are part of China's effort to eradicate the vast scam rings in South East Asia - and send a stern message to additional illegal organizations.

Context of the Groups

Such groups became dominant in the early 2000s with the support of a prominent figure - who now leads Myanmar's military government. The leader had intended to bolster associates in Laukkaing after removing its previous leader.

Within the families, the Bais were "the top", the son before stated to state media.

"At that time, our Bai family was the most powerful in each of the government and military spheres," the individual stated in a film about the Bai family, broadcast on Chinese state media in the summer.

In the same documentary, a worker at a illegal operations described the mistreatment he had experienced there: in addition to being beaten, he had his fingernails extracted with instruments and two of his digits severed with a kitchen knife.

Further Accusations

Bai Yingcang is among those who were given to execution recently. He has also been independently convicted of planning to smuggle and produce eleven tons of methamphetamine, state media reported.

Downfall of the Clans

The families' end came in recent times as situations changed.

Previously Chinese authorities has pressed the Myanmar junta to rein in scam schemes in Laukkaing.

Last year, the law enforcement released legal actions for the most prominent figures of such groups.

The patriarch, the clan's head, was among the individuals who were transferred to China from Myanmar in the beginning of the year.

"Why is the authorities putting so much effort to go after the four families?" a official said in the July documentary.

The purpose is to caution other people, regardless of your position, your base, as long as you engage in these terrible offenses against the citizens, you will be held accountable."