BANGKOK: A court in China sentenced 11 people to death on Monday for their roles in a family-run crime syndicate accused of running illegal gambling and scam operations worth more than $1.4 billion and for the deaths of disobedient workers.
The Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Ming Guoping, Ming Zhenzhen, Zhou Weichang — all members of a powerful family in Kokkang, Myanmar — to death along with eight others, according to a court statement.
The court also handed death sentences suspended for two years to five others, while a further 12 defendants received jail sentences of between five and 24 years. Two-year suspended death sentences are often converted to life in prison.
The sentences came shortly after China on Sunday separately sentenced former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian to death with reprieve for taking bribes. Tang took bribes of more than 268 million yuan ($38 million) in cash and property between 2007 and 2024, according to a statement by the Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun in the northeastern Jilin province.
China issued arrest warrants for members of the Ming family in November 2023 on suspicion of fraud, murder and illegal detention as part of a crackdown on illegal scam operations near the border with Myanmar.
The syndicate’s crimes resulted in the deaths of 10 workers and injuries to two others who tried to escape the scam centers it ran, the court statement said.
The centers, in which criminals run sophisticated online scams targeting people all over the world, have proliferated in countries in Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia. They often use trafficked workers who are forced to conduct romance-based investment scams as part of a globalized industry that the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates is worth $40 billion annually.
China is cracking down on scam centers in the region through joint operations or coordinating with local police forces. In February, China, Myanmar and Thailand exerted pressure on scam centers located along the Thai-Myanmar border, resulting in the release of more than 7,000 workers, most of whom were Chinese citizens.
China court sentences 11 members of Myanmar-based crime syndicate to death
https://arab.news/bqdh6
China court sentences 11 members of Myanmar-based crime syndicate to death
- The sentences came shortly after China on Sunday separately sentenced former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian to death
- China issued arrest warrants for members of the Ming family in November 2023 on suspicion of fraud, murder and illegal detention
35 million Nigerians ‘risk hunger after global funding collapse’
- The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level
ABUJA: Nearly 35 million Nigerians are at risk of hunger this year, including 3 million children facing severe malnutrition, the UN said, following the collapse of global aid budgets.
Speaking at the launch of the 2026 humanitarian plan in Abuja, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the long-dominant, foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that Nigeria’s needs have grown.
Conditions in the conflict-hit northeast are dire, Fall said, with civilians in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states facing rising violence.
BACKGROUND
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Mohammed Malick Fall said the foreign-led aid model in Nigeria is no longer sustainable and that the country’s needs have grown.
A surge in terror attacks killed more than 4,000 people in the first eight months of 2025, matching the toll for all of 2023, he said.
The UN can only aim to deliver $516 million to provide lifesaving aid to 2.5 million people this year, down from 3.6 million in 2025, which in turn was about half the previous year’s level.
“These are not statistics. These numbers represent lives, futures, and Nigerians,” Fall said.
He also said the UN had no choice but to focus on “the most lifesaving” interventions given the drop in available funding.
Shortfalls last year led the World Food Programme to also warn that millions could go hungry in Nigeria as its resources ran out in December and it was forced to cut support for more than 300,000 children.
Fall said Nigeria was showing growing national ownership of the crisis response in recent months through measures such as local funding for lean-season food support and early-warning action on flooding.
