BANGKOK, Thailand: Eleven people who killed 14 Chinese citizens, and ran a financial scam and gambling operations worth more than US$1 billion, were found guilty by a Chinese court and executed, authorities said.
The Wenzhou city Intermediate People's Court had sentenced the 11 people to death in September. They included Ming Guoping and Ming Zhenzhen, members of the Ming family whom the court found led the scam and gambling operations, as well as Zhou Weichang, Wu Hongming, and Luao Jianzhang, whom the court named as other key members of the operations.
In November, the court rejected the group's appeal.
In November 2023, Chinese authorities exerted pressure on authorities in the border areas shared with Myanmar to crack down on scams, after which members of the group were detained.
Scam parks are an industrial-scale business in Southeast Asia, especially Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, where a mix of trafficked and willing labor has carried out digital scams on victims around the world.
Authorities in the region face growing international pressure from China, the U.S., and other nations to address the proliferation of criminal activity.
