The alleged drug lord in Asia has been arrested for drug trafficking and extradited to Australia, Australian police announced on Thursday (December 22nd). Tse Chi Lop, 59, is one of the most wanted men in the world. He is suspected of being the leader of the huge Asian cartel known as Sam Gor, a major producer and global supplier of methamphetamines, a powerful synthetic drug.
This Canadian citizen of Chinese origin is often compared to Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman, nicknamed “El Chapo”. The latter was sentenced to life in 2019 in New York for his role at the head of the Sinaloa cartel.
Tse Chi Lop is due to appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to face charges of “conspiring to traffic in commercial quantities of controlled drugs”, after he was extradited from the Netherlands to Australia. If found guilty, he faces life in prison.
Stopped in January 2021 near Amsterdam
Australian police hailed “one of the most spectacular arrests in history” from the country. Sam Gor would launder the 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 trade unions [du crime] obviously deliberately stay away from commercial transactions”hence the importance of this arrest and the length of the hunt, she explained.
Australian police say the charges against Tse Chi Lop 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 market value of around three million dollars (i.e. more than 2.8 million euros).
A second man was also arrested after being extradited from Thailand. “The hard work of the investigators and the international network [de la police fédérale australienne] made it possible to charge these alleged offenders and bring them face to face with Australian justice”highlighted Mme Barrett.