SAR role crucial to Manila drug-gang hunt
Hong Kong investigators provided crucial intelligence on the movement of four alleged SAR-based drug runners shot dead by Manila detectives, the head of the police Narcotics Bureau said yesterday.
Chief Superintendent Henrique Koo Sii-hong said the shootout in Manila's Chinatown on Wednesday was the latest in a series of successful operations based on intelligence-sharing against a regional syndicate.
Philippine police fanned out across the city yesterday to hunt for more members of the syndicate implicated in two high-profile drug raids in the country last November and August. It was not known last night if further arrests had been made.
The syndicate has bases in Hong Kong and southern China and specialised in the drug methamphetamine hydrochloride, better known as 'ice', Mr Koo said.
'The four dead suspects were part of a regional syndicate specialising in 'ice' and Hong Kong is part of that drug connection,' he said.
'They were middle-rank collectors. Obviously, they were not high up or they would not be handling the goods themselves.
'We supplied the information on their movement to our Philippine counterparts. We have been tracking these characters for years but in the past year, we have got hold of very precise intelligence on their operations and movement,' he said.
Hong Kong men Shum Hin-fung, 29, Yeung Ma-chuen, 41, Chau Ping-chen, 36, and mainlander Li Jiaxiong, 30, were shot dead after a high-speed car chase by police.
A kilogram of 'ice' and three guns were recovered at the scene.
Last night, a family member of Yeung flew to Manila to retrieve the body.
It is understood the family will not seek compensation or ask for an official inquiry into his death.
Yeung was a prominent race driver on the Zhuhai and Macau circuits and won a number of prizes throughout the 1990s.
Calling cards were found on the men with records of phone calls to two motor sport clubs and a car accessories shop in Macau and the mainland, and a law firm in Hong Kong, Manila police said.
In November, three Hong Kong suspects were arrested in the Philippines accused of possessing 420kg of 'ice' with a street value estimated at $163 million.
