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A Chinese court has condemned five top individuals of a notorious Burmese mafia to capital punishment as Beijing continues its campaign on fraudulent networks in the region.

In all, 21 Bai family figures and partners were found guilty of scams, homicide, injury and other offenses, reported a state media report posted on the judicial website.

This clan is among a small number of mafias that gained influence in the 2000s and changed the underdeveloped isolated region of Laukkaing into a profitable center of gambling establishments and entertainment zones.

Recently they shifted to fraudulent schemes in which thousands of smuggled workers, many of them from China, are trapped, harmed and forced to scam victims in criminal enterprises estimated at billions.

Specifics of the Sentencing

Mafia head the patriarch and his son the younger Bai were included in the five individuals condemned to capital punishment by the judicial body. Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang and Chen Guangyi were the remaining punished.

Two individuals of the clan mafia were handed conditional death penalties. Five were sentenced to permanent incarceration, while more figures were received jail terms varying from several years to two decades.

This family, who controlled their own militia, established forty-one bases to house their digital scam operations and gambling houses, authorities stated.

Magnitude of Criminal Operations

These criminal operations entailed more than 29bn Chinese yuan ($4.1bn; £3.1 billion). They also resulted in the fatalities of several from China citizens, the suicide of one and numerous assaults, state media stated.

The severe punishments delivered by the court are part of the Chinese effort to eradicate the extensive scam operations in South East Asia - and send a firm message to additional criminal syndicates.

Context of the Families

These clans became dominant in the recent decades with the help of a prominent figure - who is in charge of Myanmar's military government. He had intended to prop up associates in the town after removing its previous leader.

Within the families, the this family were "absolutely number one", the son earlier stated to state media.

Back then, our Bai family was the leading in each of the political and military circles," he remarked in a documentary about the Bai family, broadcast on national media in July.

During the documentary, a employee at their their scam centres described the harm he had suffered at the location: in addition to being beaten, he had his fingernails removed with instruments and a couple of his fingers amputated with a tool.

Further Allegations

The son is among those who were given to death in the latest ruling. The individual has additionally been independently found guilty of organizing to traffic and make eleven tons of narcotics, reports stated.

End of the Clans

The families' downfall came in last year as situations changed.

Over a long period Beijing has encouraged the local government to control scam operations in Laukkaing.

Recently, the law enforcement announced legal actions for the leading members of such clans.

The patriarch, the clan's leader, was included in the figures who were extradited to China from Myanmar in the beginning of the year.

"Why is the authorities making such extensive work to target the groups?" a Chinese investigator said in the July documentary.

The purpose is to caution groups, no matter your identity, where you are, if you carry out such serious crimes targeting the Chinese people, you will pay the price."