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A Chinese court has sentenced five prominent individuals of a notorious Burmese mafia to execution as Beijing maintains its campaign on scam activities in Southeast Asian region.

Overall, 21 clan members and associates were convicted of scams, homicide, injury and additional offenses, said a state media report published on the court website.

The group is among a small number of organized crime groups that gained influence in the early 2000s and converted the impoverished remote area of the town into a lucrative center of gambling establishments and red-light districts.

Over the past few years they pivoted to fraudulent schemes in which thousands of illegally moved individuals, many of them Chinese, are ensnared, abused and compelled to defraud targets in illegal operations estimated at billions.

Information of the Verdict

Syndicate leader the patriarch and his son the younger Bai were among the several individuals given to execution by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court. Yang Liqiang, Hu Xiaojiang and Chen Guangyi were the remaining sentenced.

Two figures of the Bai family mafia were received suspended death sentences. Several were given to life in prison, while more figures were received jail sentences ranging from three to 20 years.

The Bais, who commanded their own militia, created forty-one bases to house their digital scam schemes and casinos, officials reported.

Scale of Illegal Schemes

Such unlawful operations involved more than 29 billion Chinese yuan ($4.1bn; £3.1bn). They also resulted in the demise of several from China citizens, the suicide of an individual and multiple assaults, official sources reported.

The harsh sentences issued by the judicial body are a component of the Chinese initiative to eliminate the vast scam rings in the region - and send a stern message to further unlawful organizations.

History of the Groups

Such clans rose to power in the early 2000s with the help of a prominent figure - who now leads Myanmar's regime. The leader had wanted to support associates in Laukkaing after removing its previous warlord.

Within the groups, the this family were "absolutely number one", Bai Yingcang previously informed state media.

Back then, our Bai family was the leading in both the government and military circles," the individual remarked in a film about the clan, shown on official channels in July.

In the same film, a employee at their their scam centres narrated the abuse he had endured at the location: in addition to being assaulted, he had his fingernails extracted with pliers and a couple of his digits severed with a tool.

Further Charges

Bai Yingcang is included in those who were sentenced to execution in the latest ruling. He has also been separately convicted of planning to trade and manufacture 11 tonnes of narcotics, reports reported.

Downfall of the Families

Their fall happened in recent times as circumstances shifted.

Previously Chinese authorities has encouraged the regime to control fraudulent activities in the area.

Recently, the authorities released legal actions for the most prominent figures of such clans.

The patriarch, the Bai family's patriarch, was included in the warlords who were extradited to China from Myanmar in recent months.

"Why is the authorities making significant resources to target the four families?" a Chinese investigator commented in the summer film.

The purpose is to caution other people, no matter your position, where you are, when you carry out such terrible acts targeting the nationals, you will be held accountable."