AN organised crime taskforce is investigating claims that Hong Kong university students in Australia are being targeted in a sophisticated extortion racket operated by territory-based triad gangs.
The Queensland Criminal Justice Commission, which is leading the inquiry after complaints from some students at Bond University, has already made arrests.
Investigators refused to give details of the scope of their probe, but concern at the threat of triad-inspired crime has prompted a special seminar next month.
News of the taskforce investigation in Queensland comes after claims in the New South Wales Parliament - which emerged after questions from legislative councillor Helen Sham-Ho - that Australia was ill-prepared to deal with a rumoured exodus from the territory of high-profile crime bosses after next year's return to Chinese rule.
Taskforce spokesman Detective Senior Sergeant John Harvey confirmed arrests had been made and complaints were being taken serious-ly.
Students from Hong Kong, Taiwan and other southeast Asian nations, who pay big fees to attend Australian universities, were being targeted, he said. 'There are a lot of Asian students whose parents obviously sponsor their children. They're an easy target,' he said.