Hong Kong kingpin’s arrest in Thailand tightens screws on US$70 billion Asia-Pacific drug trade

Lee Chung-chak, a member of the Sam Gor group, is suspected of being involved in drug trafficking for four decades

Thai authorities also seized a laptop and multiple phones when they searched the 65-year-old’s serviced flat in Bangkok

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Officers from the Narcotics Bureau display ketamine confiscated in Hong Kong on Friday. Photo: SCMP

Published: 3:26pm, 6 Feb 2021Updated: 9:31pm, 6 Feb 2021

A second senior leader of a vast drug syndicate has been arrested, a Thai narcotics official said, as a transnational dragnet tightens on the Sam Gor group, which police say dominates the US$70 billion annual Asia-Pacific drug trade.

The October arrest of Hongkonger Lee Chung-chak in Bangkok preceded last month’s high-profile arrest in the Netherlands of Tse Chi Lop, a China-born Canadian national who police suspect is the top leader of the syndicate, also called “The Company”.

Lee, 65, a former prison mate of Tse, is suspected of being involved in drug trafficking for four decades. A 2018 Australian Federal Police (AFP) document reviewed by Reuters outlining the top 19 targets in the syndicate described Lee as a “senior project manager responsible for big ventures of border controlled drugs”.

The two arrests on different continents within three months stem from a decade-long investigation by the AFP, which also leads the multinational Operation Kungur task force targeting the syndicate.

It is rare for suspected senior drug traffickers to be arrested and successfully prosecuted in the Asia-Pacific region.

“The suspect was arrested by Thai Narcotics police on October 1 based on an arrest warrant issued by a Thai court, which followed an extradition request by the Australian authorities,” Lieutenant General Montri Yimyaem, head of Thailand’s Narcotics Suppression Bureau, said when asked about Lee.

“The extradition is currently being processed by the court.”