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A Chinese court has handed down death sentences to a group of leading individuals of a well-known Myanmar mafia to death as Chinese authorities maintains its efforts on fraudulent activities in Southeast Asian region.

Altogether, twenty-one clan individuals and collaborators were convicted of scams, murder, assault and various crimes, said a official announcement released on the judicial website.

The group is one of a handful of organized crime groups that became dominant in the early 2000s and converted the impoverished remote area of the town into a wealthy center of gambling establishments and nightlife areas.

Recently they shifted to scams in which thousands of smuggled people, many of them Chinese, are trapped, abused and forced to defraud others in criminal operations valued at huge sums.

Information of the Judgment

Syndicate boss the patriarch and his son the younger Bai were among the five men given to capital punishment by the court in Shenzhen. Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang and Chen Guangyi were the other three sentenced.

A couple of members of the Bai family mafia were given conditional death penalties. Several were condemned to life in prison, while nine others were received jail sentences varying from a period of 3-20 years.

This family, who led their own armed group, established 41 compounds to host their cyberscam schemes and casinos, officials reported.

Extent of Illegal Activities

These illegal enterprises involved over 29bn local currency ($4.1 billion; over three billion pounds). These activities also led to the demise of six from China nationals, the self-inflicted death of an individual and several harm, state media announced.

The strict sentences handed down by the judicial body are a component of China's effort to eradicate the vast fraud rings in South East Asia - and deliver a firm signal to further unlawful organizations.

Background of the Groups

These groups rose to power in the 2000s with the help of Min Aung Hlaing - who is in charge of Myanmar's military government. The leader had intended to support partners in the town after ousting its former warlord.

Within the clans, the this family were "the most powerful", the son before informed official sources.

During that period, we was the most powerful in both the political and armed spheres," he said in a report about the clan, shown on Chinese state media in July.

In the same report, a employee at one of their scam centres narrated the mistreatment he had experienced at the location: besides being assaulted, he had his fingernails removed with pliers and two of his digits cut off with a kitchen knife.

Additional Accusations

The son is among those who were condemned to execution in the latest ruling. He has additionally been separately found guilty of organizing to traffic and produce eleven tons of illegal drugs, state media stated.

Decline of the Families

The families' fall came in last year as situations altered.

Previously Chinese authorities has pressed the local government to rein in fraudulent schemes in Laukkaing.

Recently, the law enforcement issued detention orders for the leading figures of such families.

Bai Suocheng, the clan's leader, was among the figures who were handed to Beijing from Myanmar in the beginning of the year.

"Why is the state making such extensive work to go after the four families?" a expert said in the July report.

"It's to warn groups, no matter who you are, your base, when you engage in such terrible acts against the citizens, you will face consequences."