Overview

• China’s Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court convicted 39 defendants tied to the Ming family syndicate for crimes including fraud, murder, drug trafficking and organising prostitution, naming figures such as Ming Guoping, Ming Zhenzhen and Zhou Weichang.
• The court found the group used armed force to build scam compounds in Myanmar’s Kokang region from 2015, generating more than 10 billion yuan through telecom fraud, casinos and related rackets.
• Judges said the syndicate killed 14 people, including 10 workers who tried to escape or disobey, and cited an October 2023 incident in which gunmen opened fire at a scam compound.
• Sentences included 16 death penalties, five of them with two-year reprieves that are commonly commuted to life, and 23 prison terms ranging from five years to life, with some reports counting 11 immediate death sentences.
• The case is a centerpiece of China’s cross-border campaign against overseas scam hubs, with authorities saying tens of thousands have been repatriated from northern Myanmar, including more than 53,000 Chinese nationals.