Wei Family Criminal Gang Trial Opens in China

A Chinese court has opened the first-instance trial of the Wei family criminal syndicate, one of the notorious “Four Great Families” of northern Myanmar’s Kokang region, marking a major milestone in Beijing’s cross-border crackdown on telecom fraud networks. The Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Fujian Province conducted the public trial from May 19 to 22, 2026, according to Xinhua News.

Background: The Kokang “Four Great Families”

The Kokang region in Myanmar’s Shan State has long operated as a lawless zone where local armed groups enjoy significant autonomy from the central government. Over the past two decades, four major family-run syndicates — the Bai, Ming, Wei, and Liu families — have built powerful criminal enterprises combining political influence, military force, and illicit businesses including gambling, drug trafficking, and telecom fraud.

Among these, the Wei family held a uniquely powerful position. Unlike other families that built private armies with self-funded weapons and recruitment, the Wei family controlled a state-authorized border defense battalion — a registered, government-recognized military unit. As CCTV News reported, this allowed them to blend official military authority with criminal enterprise.

The Trial and Charges

The trial heard the main case against defendants Wei Huairen, Liao Jingfang, and Kang Min, as well as a related case against Chen Dawei and Xiong Hengxing. The defendants face charges including fraud, intentional homicide, extortion, organizing illegal border crossings, and drug-related offenses.

According to the indictment filed by the Quanzhou People’s Procuratorate, the criminal group, led by Wei Huairen and others since 2019, exploited the Wei family’s political and military influence in Myanmar’s Kokang region to establish multiple industrial parks. These parks housed telecom fraud operations that specifically targeted Chinese citizens, defrauding them of more than 2.4 billion yuan (approximately US$330 million) and causing the deaths of at least two Chinese citizens.

The scale of the operation was staggering. The Ministry of Public Security confirmed that the Wei family developed 31 fraud compounds including the Henry and Weisheng parks, with total verified fraud losses reaching nearly 6 billion yuan (US$830 million) and gambling turnover approaching 10 billion yuan.

A Family Built on Violence

Central to the prosecution’s case is Chen Dawei, the nephew of Wei Huairen and designated successor to the family’s military command. Investigators uncovered chilling evidence of his brutality. In one incident, Chen ordered the execution of a random stranger — a worker named Ma Moude who had been confined in a small room for disciplinary reasons — as a “human sacrifice” to seal a blood brotherhood ceremony with a business partner.

When interrogators asked Chen why he needed to kill someone for the ceremony, he replied: “To establish a pledge of loyalty. It’s unique.” Asked how he selected the target, he said: “I told my subordinate to find a stranger. Anywhere. Just find a stranger.” When asked what he felt after shooting the victim and performing the brotherhood oath, Chen responded: “What feelings do I need to have?”

In another incident in late 2022, Chen ordered the execution of You Moubiao, a worker associated with a rival family’s business partner. Investigators who later exhumed the remains described finding a skeleton in a kneeling position, head down, bound with iron chains and thick ropes, with seven bullet holes in the skull.

The Fraud Machine

The Wei family’s criminal enterprise was not merely violent — it was also highly sophisticated. Kang Min, the fraud operations manager, introduced a new “group chat” fraud model that combined investment scams with Ponzi-style structures. Instead of multiple scammers targeting a single victim, this model allowed one scammer to “harvest” many victims simultaneously through fake investment platforms.

“We slowly lured them in,” Kang Min told investigators. “In the early stages, any amount could be withdrawn. The biggest single pool was 100 million yuan — stacked in 1-million-yuan bundles in a room.”

Law Enforcement Response

The investigation was unprecedented in scale. Chinese police deployed over 1,000 officers across 28 provinces and more than 240 cities, interviewing over 10,000 victims. Investigators made four trips into active conflict zones in Myanmar’s Kokang region to exhume bodies and collect evidence, as detailed in the CCTV investigation report.

“Our investigators traveled to 28 provinces and over 240 cities, taking testimony from over 10,000 people,” said Zhang Hanyi, Deputy Director of the Quanzhou Public Security Bureau. “What we’ve uncovered so far is only part of the picture.”

In the broader crackdown on Myanmar-linked fraud, more than 57,000 Chinese suspects have been arrested nationwide.

Legal and Geopolitical Significance

This trial represents a landmark prosecution. It is the first time Chinese courts have tried leaders of Myanmar-based criminal syndicates who operated with state-sanctioned military authority, setting a major precedent for cross-border criminal jurisdiction. The Supreme People’s Court confirmed in March 2026 that 16 principal offenders from the “Four Great Families” have been sentenced to death with immediate execution.

The case also highlights deepening China-Myanmar law enforcement cooperation, with Myanmar authorities actively transferring suspects and facilitating evidence collection despite the complex political situation in northern Myanmar.

What’s Next

The court has adjourned after four days of proceedings, with sentencing to be announced at a later date. The trial sends a clear deterrent message to transnational criminal networks targeting Chinese citizens, though questions remain about the recovery of billions of yuan in laundered fraud proceeds and the status of other Wei family members, including former parliamentarian Wei Chaoren and business operator Wei Rong, who remain at large.

As task force member Huang Yuanfeng noted: “We can only say how fortunate we are in China, how important our sense of security is. If you go abroad lured by high salaries, you place your life in someone else’s hands.”