MOSCOW, October 13 (HS/RIA Novosti) - China has sentenced three members of the Wei family criminal gang - Wei Huairen, Chen Dawei and Liao Jingfang - to death for crimes committed in Myanmar, China's Central Television (CCTV) reported on Tuesday.

The Wei family is one of the four major clans in northern Myanmar and reportedly the most dangerous criminal force in the country. Some members of the gang recently stood trial in China.

The Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court and the Nan’an City People’s Court in Fujian Province handed down a death verdict in a series of cases involving the Wei family criminal group, the report said.

Three other defendants - Wei Qingtao, Kang Min and Xiong Hengxing - were sentenced to life imprisonment, while another 55 people received prison terms ranging from three to 24 years, with corresponding additional penalties in the form of fines, confiscation of property and deportation, according to the report.

The Wei family initially amassed capital through gambling and the sex trade, and later spread false advertisements promising high salaries and quick riches in northern Myanmar, luring many Chinese citizens to Myanmar, the newspaper notes,

After 2017, the criminal group established a black-market fraud operation and built the International Yulong fraud complex, designed to hold 10,000 employees. They demanded more than 300,000 yuan (more than $44,800) as ransom for the detained Chinese citizens.

Over the past five years, the group has illegally amassed nearly 6 billion yuan ($896.4 million), and their casino’s turnover reached nearly 10 billion yuan ($1.494 billion), the report said.

To apprehend the gang members, officers from a special investigative task force operated throughout Myanmar, and the evidence-gathering process lasted more than 700 days.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Indrani Sarkar