02/02/2026, 08:1302/02/2026, 08:13
China has again executed members of a criminal gang who are said to have committed crimes and online fraud from Myanmar. The four Chinese were convicted in November last year of intentional homicide, telephone and online fraud, kidnapping and drug smuggling, as the intermediate people’s court in the southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen announced.
As the court also announced, a fifth defendant, who had also been sentenced to death, died due to illness before the sentence could be carried out. An appeal process by the remaining convicts in December failed.
Another execution in a short time
In doing so, China again quickly executed members of a criminal gang that operated out of the civil war-torn country of Myanmar. Last week, a court in Wenzhou carried out the sentences against eleven death row inmates.
Specifically, the judiciary found the gang guilty of opening casinos and running fraud in self-built areas in northern Myanmar. Six Chinese citizens died there and others were injured, the court said.
Gambling and fraud are said to have raised more than 29 billion yuan (currently around 3.2 billion francs). The judges also convicted the head of the gang for being involved in the production and trafficking of eleven tons of methamphetamine. The court justified the death penalty based on the seriousness of the crimes.
How the internet reacts in China
The fraud and kidnapping cases attracted a lot of attention in China. On the social network Weibo, China’s counterpart to the online platform X, many users showed support for the executions. The gangs often lured Chinese citizens and then held them forcibly. In so-called scam centers, they had to scam other people by telephone or over the Internet. (hkl/sda/dpa)