A court in eastern China has handed down death sentences to three members of a notorious criminal syndicate for operating an extensive network of telecom scam centers across the border in Myanmar. The ruling was detailed in an official statement released on Tuesday by the Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Fujian province.

The defendants—identified as Wei Huairen, Chen Dawei, and Liao Jingfang—were prosecuted for their core roles in the so-called "Wei family criminal gang." The syndicate's illicit operations reportedly spanned drug trafficking, organized prostitution, illegal gambling dens, widespread telecommunications fraud, and the murders of at least two Chinese nationals.

Court proceedings revealed that Wei served as one of the primary leaders of the criminal network and was convicted on multiple capital charges, including murder. Alongside the three death sentences, three other syndicate members received life imprisonment, while 55 secondary participants were handed prison terms ranging from three years and three months to 24 years.

State media outlets in Beijing claim the gang operated 14 large-scale compounds, allegedly luring thousands of Chinese citizens to Myanmar with false promises of lucrative employment. The criminal enterprise is believed to have amassed over $1.8 billion, highlighting the alarming industrial scale of scam operations proliferating throughout Southeast Asia.

Source: www.aljazeera.com