They Killed a Stranger to Seal a Deal. Then They Smiled in Court.

Chen Dawei told his men to find a stranger. Anywhere.

His men dragged a man out of the dark room. The man was in solitary because he would not submit to the park’s discipline. Chen Dawei pushed him onto the sacrifice platform. Gunshot. Sworn brotherhood. Glasses filled. Someone asked what it felt like to shoot. Chen Dawei said, What feeling was needed? None.

The sworn-brotherhood liquor was Moutai. The bottle cap fell to the floor and rolled to the table leg.

Before execution, Ming Zhenzhen gave an interview. The camera was on her. She smiled. She said, Since the people are already dead, just arrange to bury them. She ran Wohu Villa. Wohu Villa was a telecom fraud park. She ran several. She took part in suppressing people who tried to escape. Executed in 2026.

A number was pinned to the chest of her prison uniform. The loose threads had not been cut clean.

Bai Suocheng, Wei Chaoren, Liu Guoxi, Liu Zhengxiang. The four great families of northern Myanmar. In 2020, Liu Guoxi died, and the Ming family replaced him. Ming Xuechang; his son was commander of Police Battalion 21. Wohu Villa. The Bai family’s Baisheng Group. Bai Yingneng was a standing committee member of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone. Bai Yingcang was militia battalion commander. Cangsheng Technology Park. Next door, Aimin Hospital was built. Liu Abao, real name Liu Zhengxiang. Fulilai Group. First pot of gold from drug trafficking. Real estate, jewelry, telecom fraud, gambling. Wei Chaoren, Myanmar federal legislator. His third brother Wei Huairen, commander of the Kokang Border Guard Battalion. His son Wei Qingsong. His daughter Wei Rong, Henry Group, casinos, telecom fraud, philanthropist.

They held official ranks, guns, and control over their own money.

In 2009, the Myanmar military attacked Kokang. Peng Jiasheng’s alliance army retreated into the small mountains. The four great families turned. The Myanmar military backed them, and they became the power structure of Kokang, the First Special Region. They had two sets of armed forces. One was the Border Guard Force: local forces made up 80 percent, the military 20 percent. The other was the militia: funded by the military, without official establishment, but recognized by the state. Three battalions under the Laukkai Military Region. The Wei family’s 1006 Border Guard Battalion. The Bai family’s Kokang militia battalion. The Ming family’s police battalion. More than 5,000 people in total. Financially independent. Self-reliant. Gray industries tolerated. Telecom fraud. Protection. Direct cooperation. They went in themselves.

After Wei Qingtao was arrested, Wei Huairen took the 1006 Border Guard Battalion to the border to demand his release from China.

Myanmar has two governments. The National Unity Government, with no actual control. The military government, with actual control. At the eighth Lancang-Mekong Cooperation foreign ministers’ meeting in 2023, Foreign Minister Wang met Myanmar Deputy Prime Minister Than Swe. Than Swe said economic cooperation would advance the Myanmar-China Economic Corridor. On telecom fraud, Myanmar would firmly cooperate in cracking down. On the domestic conflict, he hoped for China’s support. The military government accused the northern Myanmar conflict of having a major power’s influence behind it. Hostages stranded in northern Myanmar had not returned. Myawaddy parks were still there. Foreign Minister Wang said the cancer of telecom fraud still had stubborn remnants. China and Myanmar should continue cooperating to completely root out the remaining telecom fraud elements. This was said for the Myanmar military to hear.

Telecom fraud feeds the army. The army protects fraud. Local families used the huge profits of telecom fraud to buy back weapons and feed troops. They used troops to trade interests with the military government. Warlords and local lords split the spoils. There was no law.

A Chinese employee’s purchase price rose from 20,000 to more than 300,000. If they wanted to go home, they had to pay a ransom of several hundred thousand. Only then would the boss release them. In 2022, total losses from online telecom fraud in China exceeded 2 trillion yuan. For every successful scam, a firework was set off over northern Myanmar. Behind each firework was a Chinese family broken.

A Chinese public security bureau issued arrest warrants. Peng’s alliance army rose. Peng Jiasheng died of illness in 2022. The commander-in-chief was his son Peng Deren. The alliance army had previously launched a large-scale military counterattack every five years. 2015. 2019. This time the attack was stronger than before. The alliance army found advanced weapons in the small woods. Type 81 rifles. Drones. M99 sniper rifles. Type 62 mortars. Tanks. The Kokang alliance army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Arakan Army, and Kachin Independence Army formed a military alliance. The Northern Alliance. People’s Defence Forces joined. The Kachin Independence Army and People’s Defence Forces launched fighting in Sagaing Region. The Southern Theater Command held military exercises on the China-Myanmar border. Myanmar soldiers ran away with their guns. Took leave and did not return. Even officers. Front-line units retreated without fighting. Strongpoints were easily taken. Myanmar soldiers withdrew. Surrendered. Warships went to Myanmar on a friendly visit. Some understood it as a show of force.

In January 2024, the Kokang alliance army captured Laukkai. The entire Kokang region was controlled. The Myanmar central army at the Mixiangou headquarters handed over all weapons and equipment. Armored vehicles. 122mm and 155mm howitzers. Large amounts of ammunition. 2,123 people surrendered. 228 officers. 1,895 soldiers. 1,601 family members. 2,043 guns seized. 139 motorcycles. 120 small vehicles. 42 large vehicles. Six major generals of the Myanmar central army surrendered collectively. On January 6, the Kokang alliance army hosted a banquet for the surrendering senior officers. Brigadier General Tun Tun Myint. Brigadier General Moe Kyaw Thu. Brigadier General Aye Khaing. Commander of the 12th Field Brigade. Commander of the 14th Field Brigade. Commander of the 16th Field Brigade. Cheers.

Ming Zhenzhen executed. Wei Huairen and two others were prosecuted. Chinese police, cooperating with Myanmar, had captured and transferred more than 59,000 telecom fraud suspects. Criminal Law Article 232, intentional homicide. Article 266, fraud. Chinese courts claimed jurisdiction over crimes committed across the border.

On the day Ming Zhenzhen was executed, no fireworks were set off in northern Myanmar. On a street in Laukkai, a signboard from a telecom fraud park was taken down. The iron sheet scraped across the ground. The sound was loud.