(Melbourne) The alleged Asian drug lord and one of the world’s most wanted men has been extradited to Australia and arrested on charges of drug trafficking, Australian police said on Thursday.
Tse Chi Lop, 59, is suspected of being the leader of the huge Asian cartel known as “Sam Gor”, a major global producer and supplier of methamphetamines.
This Canadian citizen of Chinese origin is compared to Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
PHOTO PROVIDED/REUTERS
Tse Chi Lop, 59, is a Canadian citizen suspected of being the leader of a huge Asian cartel.
He is due to appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to face charges of “conspiracy to traffic in commercial quantities of controlled drugs”, after being extradited from the Netherlands.
If found guilty, he faces life in prison.
Australian police hailed “one of the most spectacular arrests in the country’s history”.
“Sam Gor” would launder billions from drugs, particularly through casinos, hotels and real estate companies in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia.
Tse Chi Lop was arrested in January 2021 at Schiphol International Airport near Amsterdam after a decade of stalking, and was the subject of an Interpol red notice.
Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Krissy Barrett said the arrest came after “a very complex investigation”.
“By their very nature, these high-ranking figures within the (crime) syndicates obviously deliberately stay away from business transactions”, hence the importance of this arrest and the length of the hunt, a- she explained.
Australian police say the charges relate to a drug smuggling operation from Melbourne to Sydney in 2012-2013.
At the time, a police dragnet led to the arrest of 27 people and the recovery of 20 kilos of methamphetamine, with a current street value of around US$3 million (CDN4.08 million).
A second man was also arrested after being extradited from Thailand.
“The hard work of the investigators and the international network (of the Australian Federal Police) made it possible to charge these alleged offenders and bring them face to face with Australian justice,” said Ms.me Barrett.