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A Chinese court has condemned a group of leading individuals of a notorious Burmese organized crime group to capital punishment as Beijing maintains its efforts on scam networks in Southeast Asian region.

Overall, twenty-one Bai family figures and partners were found guilty of scams, homicide, assault and additional crimes, said a official announcement released on the court portal.

The group is among a small number of organized crime groups that gained influence in the early 2000s and changed the underdeveloped remote area of the town into a profitable base of casinos and red-light districts.

In recent years they shifted to fraudulent schemes in which many of smuggled individuals, a large number of them Chinese, are trapped, abused and compelled to defraud targets in illegal enterprises estimated at billions.

Specifics of the Judgment

Syndicate leader the patriarch and his son the younger Bai were included in the group of figures given to death by the court in Shenzhen. Yang Liqiang, A third figure and Chen Guangyi were the additional convicted.

A couple of figures of the Bai family syndicate were given conditional death penalties. Five were given to life imprisonment, while nine others were received jail terms between a period of 3-20 years.

This family, who controlled their own private army, set up 41 bases to house their online fraud operations and gambling houses, government said.

Scale of Criminal Activities

Such criminal operations involved over 29bn yuan (over four billion dollars; £3.1 billion). These activities also caused the demise of six Chinese citizens, the suicide of one and several harm, official sources announced.

The strict penalties handed down by the judicial body are within China's initiative to remove the extensive scam networks in the region - and issue a stern message to further criminal organizations.

History of the Families

Such groups became dominant in the early 2000s with the support of Min Aung Hlaing - who now leads the country's regime. The leader had intended to bolster associates in Laukkaing after ousting its earlier leader.

Among the groups, the this family were "absolutely number one", Bai Yingcang earlier told official sources.

"At that time, our Bai family was the leading in each of the government and military spheres," the individual said in a report about the Bai family, shown on official channels in July.

During the report, a worker at one of fraud facilities narrated the abuse he had endured at the location: besides being hit, he had his fingernails removed with instruments and a couple of his digits amputated with a blade.

Additional Accusations

Bai Yingcang is among those who were condemned to execution in the latest ruling. The individual has also been separately found guilty of planning to traffic and make eleven tons of methamphetamine, reports stated.

Downfall of the Groups

The families' end came in last year as circumstances changed.

For years Chinese authorities has urged the Myanmar junta to limit scam activities in Laukkaing.

Last year, the law enforcement issued arrest warrants for the most prominent members of these clans.

Bai Suocheng, the Bai family's head, was included in the warlords who were transferred to China from Myanmar in recent months.

"Why is the Chinese government making significant resources to go after the four families?" a official stated in the summer documentary.

"It's to warn individuals, no matter your position, your location, when you commit these terrible acts affecting the Chinese people, you will pay the price."