Chinese gangs come to surface
SOUTH Africa's simmering shark's fin war first surfaced about three years ago when Chinese gangs started battling for control of the market, extorting and attacking Asian businessmen. It has continued on and off since then.
May 1991, a Chinese restaurant owner, Yu Shan-tai, from Cape Town and his 11-year-old son, Tony, were kidnapped and beaten by a six-strong Chinese gang from Johannesburg who tried to force him to withdraw 600,000 rand (HK$840,000). The alleged mastermind, Augustus Chu Ko-chang, disappeared after being granted bail.
June 5, 1991, Yang Yu-tu was ''executed'' in a Johannesburg restaurant and his body taken to a field and burnt. Jack Tseng Ku-shu was later charged with shooting him while two other men held a blanket over his head.
October 1991, an unidentified Chinese man was found floating face-down in the Black River with a crossbow bolt in his head.
December 16, 1991, the body of Chun Jen-chen, who had been shot in the head, was found next to the main airport road in Cape Town after a clash between the Table Mountain and K14 gangs.
December 1991, police discovered a $2.2 million cache of ivory and abalone in Johannesburg.
December 23, 1991, bystander Lin Che-ming, 24, was shot dead and two Chinese men were wounded outside a Cape Town restaurant during a clash between the same gangs. None of the three were involved in the dispute.
October 1992, Wang Kar-leong, from Hong Kong, was convicted and fined for illegal possession of firearms. They were believed to be the same type used in an earlier murder attempt on a Chinese man, Ronald Can Cao, shot nine times when he refused to pay protection money.
October 1992, Wang's co-accused, Taiwanese national Chen ''Bobo'' Shu-sheng, described in court as a ''mafia strongman'', fled to Hong Kong.
January 3, 1994, Jim Wei-lung, 22, was shot dead in an apparent robbery in Cape Town.
May 12, 1994, shark's fin exporter Michael Shen was abducted and murdered in Cape Town.
June 15, 1994, alleged gang boss Augustus Chu, accused of kidnapping Yu Shan-tai and his son Tony from Cape Town in 1991, appeared in court after being extradited from Malawi.
