Kokang Crime Ring

Here's a summary of the provided text: The story centers around the Kokang crime families, powerful criminal syndicates operating from the town of Laukkaing in Myanmar’s northeastern Kokang region. These families – the Bais, Lius, Weis, and Mings – built vast empires based on illegal gambling, telecoms and internet fraud, drug production, and prostitution, fueled by connections to the Myanmar military and exploiting the country’s instability. Their operations, facilitated by a 2,000-strong private army, generated billions of dollars. Chinese authorities, alerted by investigations and public outcry, launched a massive crackdown, arresting over 57,000 Chinese nationals involved in the scams and bringing down key figures like Chen Dawei and the heads of the four families. The operation, dubbed “Operation 1027,” resulted in the capture of Laukkaing and the repatriation of thousands of victims. While the immediate threat of the Kokang crime families has been significantly reduced, the underlying issues of instability and organized crime in Myanmar, along with the global scale of the scam industry, remain significant concerns. China’s focus now extends to combating scams along Myanmar’s border with Thailand and internationally, with ongoing investigations and arrests targeting transnational criminal networks.