Dutch police arrest alleged Asian drug syndicate kingpin By Reuters

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch police stated on Saturday that they had arrested the alleged chief of a sprawling Asian drug syndicate who’s listed as one of many world’s most-wanted fugitives and has been in comparison with Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

Tse Chi Lop, a Chinese language-born Canadian nationwide, was detained on Friday on the request of Australian police, who led an investigation that discovered his organisation dominates the $70 billion-a-year Asia-Pacific drug commerce, Dutch police spokesman Thomas Aling stated.

Tse is anticipated to be extradited after showing earlier than a choose, Aling stated, including that his arrest by nationwide police passed off with out incident at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.

“He was already on the most-wanted listing and he was detained primarily based on intelligence we acquired,” Aling stated.

Dutch police had been unable to supply particulars in regards to the authorized proceedings and it was not clear if Tse had a lawyer.

Tse, 57, an ex-convict who previously lived in Toronto, has moved between Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan lately, based on counter-narcotics officers from 4 international locations and paperwork reviewed by Reuters.

The group has “been related with or straight concerned in not less than 13 instances” of drug trafficking since January 2015, the paperwork confirmed.

Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia and Pacific consultant for the United Nations Workplace on Medication and Crime, advised Reuters in 2019 that “Tse Chi Lop is within the league of El Chapo or possibly Pablo Escobar,” referring to Latin America’s most infamous drug lords.

The syndicate he’s suspected of working is thought to its members as “The Firm”. Regulation enforcers additionally seek advice from it as “Sam Gor” – or Brother Quantity Three in Cantonese – after one among Tse’s nicknames, Reuters reported on the time.

Reuters was unable to contact Tse for touch upon the report.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP), which has taken the lead in a sprawling investigation into the legal organisation, stated on Sunday it has issued an arrest warrant for him in 2019, “in reference to AFP-led Operation Volante, which dismantled a worldwide crime syndicate working in 5 international locations.”

“The syndicate focused Australia over numerous years, importing and distributing massive quantities of illicit narcotics, laundering the income abroad and dwelling off the wealth obtained from crime.”