Here it is — on the scene video of the airport arrest of Tse Chi Lop, accused of
being one of the world's biggest drug lords, earning him the title of "Asia's El Chapo"
The Mob Reporter here with new video of his arrest on January 22, 2021, at an airport in Amsterdam
Please forgive the oversized watermark, but at the time of making, this is the first sighting of Tse's
arrest and delivered directly from a knowledgeable source. It is confirmed authentic and legitimate
For a full account of Tse Chi Lop's rise to prominence and the hunt by police around
the globe to have him face justice, please watch my video on his life, which I will link to here
and in the description below. But know this: he is accused of being the head of an expansive
multi-billion dollar international drug syndicate controlling the lucrative Asia-Pacific trade
For context Tse was born in China but emigrated to Canada in the 1980s, where he simultaneously
became a Canadian citizen and blossomed into a skilled underworld leader. In Canada he was
working with serious Italian mafiosi, Colombian cartels and Chinese triads and criminal gangs
After a stint in prison in the United States he refocused his efforts in Asia, spending more time
in Hong Kong than Toronto and allegedly building an alliance of criminal groups and specialists
Known variously as "The Company" and as the "Sam Gor" syndicate; Sam Gor is one of Tse's nicknames
It's Cantonese for Brother Number Three. The group, police allege, has been behind many of the
world's largest methamphetamine seizures in Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Korea
Malaysia, New Zealand, and Australia. It is police in Australia who have been leading the charge to
chase Tse down and it was an arrest request from Australian authorities that led to an Interpol
red notice, which is an international arrest warrant. That red notice was triggered in late
January when Tse was trying to fly from Amsterdam back to Canada. Which leads us back to his arrest.
Tse, by all accounts, is a calm calculating, and pragmatic man
and it is no surprise his arrest appears to reflect that — no running, no shouting
no fighting. The jig was up, he knew it, and he will no doubt argue his case in court
Meanwhile, the next domino has fallen in the war against the Sam Gor syndicate, although
technically it came first but nobody knew it. Lee Chung Chak, a Hong Kong citizen was arrested in
Bangkok, Thailand in October, but authorities didn't whisper a word about it citing operational reasons
The 65-year-old Lee, a convicted trafficker, spent time with Ise in prison in the United States
also for a heroin importation conspiracy, according to Reuters news agency, which has been
at the forefront of exposing the syndicate. Lee's arrest by Thai police also came at the request
of Australia, for alleged international drug smuggling. It's one of the Australian operations
that you're seeing here now. Lee is seen as a management level senior player in the syndicate
Now what direct connections exist between Lee's arrest
and Tse's arrest at the airport is not yet known
Thanks for watching