Gambling, fraud linked to Myanmar gang on trial in China
A court in southern China has concluded the first-instance trial of 21 members of a cross-border criminal group accused of running casinos, fraud operations, kidnappings, and violent attacks in northern Myanmar. According to the China Daily report, the trial was held from 19 to 22 September at the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court in Guangdong Province.
The defendants, led by Bay Saw Chain and Bay Yin Chin, were charged with offences including fraud, intentional homicide, intentional injury, kidnapping, extortion, operating casinos, organising prostitution, illegal detention, and drug smuggling and manufacturing.
According to prosecutors, the group leveraged the Bay family’s influence in the Kokang region of Myanmar to establish 41 compounds since August 2009. These compounds allegedly housed illegal businesses, which were protected by armed guards linked to the gang.
Scale of gambling and fraud funds
The report said that the criminal network is said to have collaborated with the individuals it sheltered, enabling activities such as telecom fraud, forced prostitution, and illegal border crossings. The authorities reported that the group’s gambling and fraud-related funds exceeded 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion).
The illegal operations left at least six Chinese nationals dead and several others injured. Prosecutors argued that the defendants should be held accountable for multiple crimes spanning over a decade.
In addition to gambling and fraud, Bay Yin Chin was accused of colluding with others to manufacture and smuggle approximately 11 tonnes of methamphetamine.
The court will announce its verdict in the coming weeks, marking the latest stage in China’s broader campaign to dismantle gambling- and fraud-related networks operating beyond its borders but affecting its citizens.
February discussions on crackdown
The case comes months after Chinese and Myanmar officials pledged closer cooperation to curb cross-border criminal activity. In February of this year, China’s Ambassador to Myanmar, Ma Jia, and Assistant Minister of Public Security, Liu Zhongyi, held talks in Naypyidaw with Myanmar’s Deputy Prime Minister, U Than Swe, and the Minister of Home Affairs, Lt-Gen Tun Tun Naung.
The talks focused on strengthening joint measures against online gambling, telecom fraud, and human trafficking. Myanmar officials highlighted their government’s efforts to curb such crimes, including new measures designed to improve coordination with neighbouring countries.
China praised Myanmar’s actions, stressing that telecom fraud and gambling-related crimes posed threats to the financial security and safety of Chinese citizens. Both sides also discussed establishing a regular mechanism for cooperation to counter cross-border organised crime more effectively.
Regional cooperation against gambling-related crimes
The criminal group’s activities, now under trial in Shenzhen, illustrate the wider regional challenges posed by cross-border gambling and fraud. Chinese officials have previously described these networks as a “tumour” undermining public safety and social stability.
China has committed to collaborating not only with Myanmar but also with Thailand and other neighbouring states to eliminate such operations. Efforts aim to address both the direct impacts, such as fraud and violence, and the systemic conditions that enable such networks to flourish in border regions.
