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A Chinese judicial body has handed down death sentences to five leading members of an infamous Myanmar organized crime group to death as Beijing maintains its efforts on fraudulent networks in Southeast Asian region.

Overall, 21 clan members and associates were convicted of fraud, homicide, injury and various crimes, reported a official announcement posted on the judicial website.

The family is among a few of organized crime groups that gained influence in the early 2000s and transformed the impoverished remote area of Laukkaing into a lucrative base of gambling establishments and nightlife areas.

In recent years they pivoted to illegal operations in which many of illegally moved individuals, a large number of them from China, are caught, abused and compelled to scam targets in criminal operations estimated at billions of dollars.

Details of the Judgment

Mafia head the patriarch and his offspring the younger Bai were among the several men given to capital punishment by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. Another individual, A third figure and A fourth person were the additional sentenced.

A couple of figures of the clan mafia were received suspended death sentences. Five were condemned to life in prison, while additional individuals were received jail terms varying from several years to two decades.

The clan, who controlled their own private army, set up 41 bases to house their cyberscam schemes and casinos, authorities stated.

Scale of Illegal Operations

Such illegal operations involved exceeding twenty-nine billion Chinese yuan ($4.1 billion; over three billion pounds). These activities also caused the demise of several Chinese nationals, the suicide of an individual and numerous assaults, state media stated.

The strict punishments handed down by the judicial body are within China's effort to eradicate the extensive fraud networks in Southeast Asia - and issue a strong message to other illegal groups.

History of the Families

Such families became dominant in the 2000s with the assistance of a military leader - who currently heads the country's military government. The leader had wanted to bolster associates in Laukkaing after ousting its earlier leader.

Within the groups, the this family were "the top", the son earlier told official sources.

"At that time, the clan was the most powerful in each of the political and armed spheres," he stated in a film about the clan, broadcast on Chinese state media in July.

Within that film, a worker at their fraud facilities recalled the harm he had suffered there: in addition to being beaten, he had his nails removed with instruments and two of his digits amputated with a tool.

Additional Charges

The son is among those who were sentenced to death this week. The individual has also been separately convicted of organizing to traffic and manufacture a large quantity of narcotics, official sources announced.

End of the Clans

Their downfall occurred in last year as situations changed.

Over a long period Chinese authorities has encouraged the local government to rein in scam activities in Laukkaing.

Last year, the law enforcement issued detention orders for the leading members of such families.

Bai Suocheng, the clan's head, was among the warlords who were transferred to China from the country in the beginning of the year.

"Why is the state putting so much effort to target the clans?" a expert commented in the July film.

The purpose is to caution groups, no matter your identity, your base, as long as you carry out these heinous offenses against the Chinese people, you will pay the price."