Exclusive | Hong Kong triads supply meth ingredients to Mexican drug cartels
Members of 14K and Sun Yee On crime gangs supplying the notorious Sinaloa cartel with raw materials to produce 'Ice' as demand surges
Two Hong Kong triads have linked up with one of Latin America's largest and most notorious drug cartels to supply the burgeoning global market for methamphetamine, the Sunday Morning Post has learned.
The Sinaloa cartel is one of Mexico's most powerful organised crime groups and has played a deadly role in the country's drug wars, which have claimed 60,000 lives since 2006.
The connection emerged a week after one of the biggest drug busts in recent years saw a massive methamphetamine production racket closed down in the eastern Guangdong city of Lufeng. China is one of the world's biggest producers of methamphetamine, also known as Ice, and of its precursor chemicals. Hong Kong triads have long been significant players in the regional narcotics trade, but recent developments suggest they are seeking to build networks further afield.
Details of the Mexico connection come in the wake of the arrest on Christmas Day of three known affiliates of the Sinaloa cartel in a US intelligence-led raid on a cock fighting farm south of Manila.
Philippine anti-drug agents smashed a meth lab and seized 84kg of the powerful and addictive stimulant in the raid.
"The Mexicans are already here," said drug task force chief Bartolome Tobias, adding that he believed they were getting help from "Chinese drug syndicates".