China has reportedly executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including "key members" involved in online scam operations.
Fraud compounds have flourished in Myanmar's lawless borderlands, part of a multi-billion-dollar illicit industry.
The centres are typically staffed by foreigners — including many Chinese — with many saying they were trafficked and forced to swindle people online.
Beijing has stepped up cooperation with South-East Asian nations in recent years to crack down on the compounds, and thousands of people have been repatriated to China.
The 11 people executed on Thursday were sentenced to death in September by a court in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said, adding that the court also carried out the executions.
Crimes of those executed included "intentional homicide, intentional injury, unlawful detention, fraud and casino establishment", the report said.
The death sentences had been approved by the Supreme People's Court in Beijing, which found that the evidence produced of crimes committed since 2015 was "conclusive and sufficient", Xinhua said.
Among the executed were members of the "Ming family criminal group", who operated in the Kokang region in Myanmar's north-east.
Their activities had contributed to the deaths of 14 Chinese citizens and injuries to "many others".
"The criminals' close relatives were allowed to meet with them before the execution," Xinhua added.
Members of the Ming crime family were handed over to the Chinese authorities in 2023 as the Myanmar junta lost control of the Kokang region to the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.
Last year, China's Public Security Ministry said more than 7,600 Chinese nationals suspected of online gambling and telecom fraud were repatriated from Myawaddy, a town on the south-eastern Myanmar border with Thailand.
Earlier this month, Cambodia extradited to China tycoon Chen Zhi, who the US says chairs a conglomerate that is a front for a multi-billion-dollar cyber-scam network.
ABC/wires
