Photo: from People's Daily

A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced three members of the Myanmar-based Wei family criminal group to death in first-instance verdicts. Three others received life imprisonment, while 55 defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three years and 3 months to 24 years.

The Intermediate People's Court of Quanzhou and people's court of Nan'an, both in East China's Fujian Province, publicly announced their first-instance verdicts in a series of cases involving the Wei family criminal group on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, according to media reports. 

Wei Huairen, Chen Dawei and Liao Jingfang were sentenced to death, while Wei Qingtao, Kang Min and Xiong Hengxing were sentenced to life imprisonment. The other 55 defendants, including Su Hongxiang, Deng Zida and Chen Longjiang, received fixed-term prison sentences, along with additional penalties including fines, confiscation of property and deportation, as applicable.

The courts found that since 2019, two criminal groups had exploited the Wei family's influence in the Kokang region of Myanmar to establish multiple criminal compounds in Laukkaing and provide armed protection for crime bosses operating there.

The one group, led by Wei Huairen and Wei Qingsong, who is being handled in a separate case, included Chen Longjiang, a close subordinate, and armed force leaders Cha Guicheng and Yan Longdi, both of whom are also being handled in separate cases, among its key members. 

The other group, known as the Henry criminal group, was led by Wei Rong, Wei Qinghai, both of whom are being handled in separate cases, and Wei Qingtao. Its key members included family member Su Hongxiang and close subordinate Deng Zida.

The groups relied on armed forces controlled by the Wei family to provide armed protection for multiple crime bosses who set up operations in the compounds. They independently or jointly with these operators committed a range of crimes, including telecom and online fraud, operating casinos, extortion, organizing prostitution, drug trafficking and organizing others to illegally cross national borders.

The two groups were involved in gambling- and fraud-related funds totaling more than 12.2 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), according to the court findings.

The Wei family criminal group also colluded with telecom fraud gangs operating in the compounds to kill people involved in fraud who refused to comply with their orders, resulting in the deaths of two Chinese citizens. In addition, Chen Dawei, a member of the Wei family, used armed forces under his control to kill people indiscriminately, causing the deaths of another two Chinese citizens.

The courts ruled that defendants including Wei Huairen and Wei Qingtao had organized, led or participated in criminal groups and committed crimes constituting seven offenses, including intentional homicide and fraud.

The courts said the sentences were handed down in accordance with the law, taking into account the facts, nature and circumstances of each defendant's crimes, as well as the degree of harm they caused to society.

Since 2023, China and Myanmar have carried out joint operations that led to the dismantling of four major criminal gangs in Myanmar's Kokang region, according to the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security. From October last year to August this year, the number of telecom fraud cases in China declined year-on-year for 11 consecutive months.

By the end of 2025, Chinese courts had concluded first-instance trials of more than 27,000 cases related to telecom fraud operations in northern Myanmar, with more than 41,000 repatriated suspects sentenced, according to China's Supreme People's Court, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Huo Zhengxin, a professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, told the Global Times that the case falls under Article 8 of China's Criminal Law, which provides for the exercise of protective jurisdiction.

The provision states that China's criminal law may apply when foreign nationals commit crimes outside China's territory against the Chinese state or its citizens, provided that the minimum penalty for the offense under Chinese law is a fixed-term prison sentence of at least three years, unless the act is not punishable under the law of the place where it was committed.

"Protective jurisdiction is also a widely recognized basis for jurisdiction under international law," Huo said.

As crime becomes increasingly transnational, offenses targeting Chinese citizens overseas have become a recurring concern. The Myanmar-based telecom fraud cases serve as a typical example of the extraterritorial application of China's criminal law. It  demonstrates China's efforts to protect the personal safety and property rights of its citizens both at home and abroad, while delivering a strong deterrent to transnational organized crime, Huo said.

The differentiated sentences handed down by the courts in accordance with China's criminal law also demonstrate that Chinese judicial authorities strictly apply the law and determine penalties based on the degree of culpability of each defendant, he said.

Regarding deportation as an additional penalty in the verdicts, Huo noted that the punishment applies only to foreign nationals and stateless persons, and not to Chinese citizens or foreign nationals entitled to diplomatic immunity. Deportation can be imposed either as an independent punishment or as an additional penalty. 

When imposed as an additional penalty, deportation generally applies to defendants convicted of serious crimes and takes effect after they have completed their principal sentences or been released on parole, with the aim of preventing them from continuing to endanger public safety in China, Huo said.