Police announced Thursday that the reputed leader of Asia’s largest criminal organization and one of the world’s most wanted individuals has been extradited to Australia and arrested on drug trafficking charges.
Tse Chi Lop, a 59-year-old Canadian of Chinese descent, is suspected of being the boss of the Sam Gor Asian mega-cartel, a significant global producer and supplier of methamphetamines. According to the BBC, Australian authorities think that it is responsible for up to 70% of the drugs entering Australia.
After being extradited from the Netherlands, he is set to appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday to address a charge of “conspiracy to traffic commercial quantities of banned substances.”
59-year-old Canadian Tse Chi Lop, of Chinese descent, is considered to be the leader of a notorious Asian mega-cartel. The Australian Police
If convicted, Tse, nicknamed Asia’s “El Chapo” in allusion to Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, faces life in jail.
The Australian police hailed it as “one of the most prominent arrests in the nation’s history.”
The Sam Gor organization, also known as “The Company,” is alleged to launder billions of dollars in narcotics money through casinos, hotels, and real estate in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia.
Tse was apprehended at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in January 2021, following a decade-long manhunt.
He had been issued a Red Notice by Interpol.
Assistant Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police Krissy Barrett stated that the arrest was the result of a “very sophisticated investigation.”
She stated, “We say that this man is the leader of a massive multinational organized crime network.”
“By their very nature, these senior members inside the syndicates consciously abstain from participating in business transactions.”
This is why the arrest is so serious and why it has taken so much time.
The BBC stated that Tse has disputed the narcotics charges. He asserts that his detention was orchestrated by Australian officials and that Australian police illegally arranged for his deportation from Taiwan to Canada to include a stop in the Netherlands so that he might be detained there.
The Australian police stated that the allegations pertain to a specific narcotics transfer operation from Melbourne to Sydney in 2012-2013.
At the time, a police sting seized 27 individuals and 20 kilograms of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $3 million.
A second individual was apprehended following his extradition from Thailand.
Barrett stated, “The efforts of investigators and the (Australian Federal Police) overseas network have enabled these suspected criminals to be charged and brought before the Australian legal system.”
Two days prior to Tse’s extradition, the Mexican army detained the brother of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, the country’s most sought drug gang leader.
The United States has offered a $10 million reward for El Mencho’s capture, but the Jalisco cartel has violently resisted previous arrest attempts
»Extradited to Australia is the alleged Asian drug lord dubbed “El Chapo.”«