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After the arrest in Amsterdam of Tse Chi Lop, believed to be the number one drug user in the Golden Triangle, a second top leader of a large drug union was arrested, a Thai narcotics official said, as a transnational net tightens over the Sam Gor group, which police say dominates the annual $ 70 billion drug trade in the Asia-Pacific region.
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The arrest in question took place in October but has only just been made public. This is Hong Kong citizen Lee Chung Chak. Lee, 65, is a former prison mate of Tse, suspected of being involved in drug trafficking for four decades. A 2018 Australian Federal Police (AFP) document, outlining the union’s top 19 targets, describes Lee as a “senior project manager responsible for large border-controlled drug companies.”
The two arrests made on different continents in the space of three months are the result of a ten-year investigation by AFP, which also heads the multinational Operation Kungur force targeting the union.
It is rare for suspected high-ranking drug traffickers to be arrested and successfully prosecuted in the Asia-Pacific region.
Thai Narcotics Police
“The suspect was arrested by Thai narcotics police on October 1 on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by a Thai court, which followed an extradition request from Australian authorities,” said Lt. Gen. Montri Yimyaem, head of the Thai Narcotics Enforcement Bureau, when asked about Lee.
“The extradition is currently being processed by the court.”
Laptop and multiple phones
Thai authorities seized a laptop and several phones while searching Lee’s apartment in an upscale Bangkok neighborhood, a potential treasure trove of intelligence. A third official added that a document and cash in several denominations were also seized.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated that the union raised up to $ 17 billion from methamphetamine trafficking in the Asia-Pacific region alone in 2018. The UNODC representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Jeremy Douglas, compared Tse to the infamous Latin American cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
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