One of the world's most wanted was picked up at an airport in Amsterdam over the weekend
Ending a global manhunt for perhaps the most important organized crime figure
that most people have never heard of. We're talking the alleged head of a vast multinational
multi-billion dollar trafficking syndicate — perhaps the most prolific in history. Real kingpin stuff
The Mob Reporter here with news of the rise and potential fall of an alleged international
drug baron who the United Nations compares to two of the biggest in underworld history
El Chapo and Pablo Escobar. Let me tell you about it
Meet Tse Che Lop, 57 years old. A Canadian citizen who was born in China, he allegedly formed an
alliance of Triad groups in Asia that its members call "The Company" — because for them
that's what it is, a business. Big business. For police, it's called the Sam Gor syndicate
Sam Gor is the Cantonese for "Brother Number Three," which is one of Tse's nicknames
The United Nations drug office estimates revenues as high as 18 billion dollars a year
In a short span Tse became legendary. He is said to have lost 66 million dollars in one night of
raging gambling at a casino in Macau. He travels by private jet surrounded by bodyguards staying
in luxury resorts and finely appointed villas. His specialty, police allege, his methamphetamine
But a lot of heroin, fentanyl, ketamine, and other synthetics were moving as well
on top of all of the corruption and money laundering that goes with it
He staked his claim to virtually the entire Asia-Pacific region
Sam Gor syndicate became the dominant meth supplier in east and southeast Asia, cumulatively
the largest potential drug market in the world. Police say the company has been manufacturing
crystal meth in quantities never before seen — an industrial scale in Asia's Golden Triangle
The Golden Triangle is as much a no-man's land as there is right now. Bordering Thailand, Laos and
Myanmar, also known as Burma, it's an almost lawless state protected by warlords and private armies
After a decade of building an empire, it's only recently his secrets have started to spill
publicly named as the boss of the Sam Gor syndicate in 2019
by Reuters news agency, Tse was placed in the top tier of wanted fugitives. An Interpol Red Notice
was issued, which is an international arrest warrant, on behalf of Australian authorities
where he is thought to have been behind as much as 70 percent of the country's methamphetamine
That Red Notice was triggered at Amsterdam's airport when Tse tried to fly back to Canada
on January 22, 2021. The beginning of the end for Tse, at least for now, can be pinpointed to an exact
time and place — it was also at an airport, one more than 5 000 miles from Amsterdam
On November 15, 2016, a man from Taiwan was found with bags of ketamine strapped to his legs at
Yangon international airport in Myanmar. It was a paltry amount — just 160 grams
but in the ensuing investigation of Cai Jeng Ze, police hacked his cell phone and found a
treasure trove of text messages, emails, photos, and videos. Authorities launched Operation Dragon
an international probe that was realizing what they thought was the work of a variety
of disparate crime groups is really all under the leadership of a single entity that became
known as the Sam Gor syndicate. And the syndicate, in turn, was under the supervision of Tse Chi Lop
Among the information found on that phone at the airport, was a receipt from a courier
company for delivery of packages of loose leaf tea in Yangon, which was once known as Rangoon
Police raided a local wharf and discovered more than a ton of crystal meth. Also on the phone was
a photograph of a man that police recognized as Tse Chi Lop. From there the pressure was on
Over the next few years, authorities in several countries started picking off Sam Gor shipments
often distinctively packaged as containing the same loose leaf tea as they found in Yangon
Among the seizures traced to the syndicate: May 2016, Okinawa, Japan, 600 kilos of meth
June 2016, Northland, New Zealand, 501 kilos of meth, the country's largest seizure
December 2017, Geraldton, Australia, 1.3 tons of meth
February 2018, Batam, Indonesia, 1.6 tons of meth ,the country's largest seizure
March 2019, Johor, Malaysia, 2.1 tons of meth
the country's largest seizure — and there are others in Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and more
Tse was born in Guangzhou, China, a city that was once known as Canton
and was allegedly connected to a crime group there known in English as the Big Circle Boys
He emigrated to Canada with his fiancee in 1988, at the age of 25. They married the next year
and had two children — a daughter and then a son. Alas his son had health issues since birth
They were soon joined by their parents and they all lived together in Toronto. Tse first hit the
radar in the drug world in Canada in the early 1990s, when he was snared in a federal probe
looking at mafiosi living in Toronto. The RCMP found the Big Circle Boys were a significant
part of the Mafia's global wheeling and dealing. Investigators found the Mafia of Montreal, under
the powerful mob boss Vito Rizzuto, was working with mobsters in New York City, the 'Ndrangheta
in Italy, narco cartels in Colombia, and the Big Circle Boys in Toronto and Asia
They were moving heroin from Asia into Canada, which was then shipped out to the
U.S., into Italy, and bringing cocaine from Colombia to sell in Canada and in Asia
It seems now that Tse learned a thing or two from the Rizzutos
who were masters of extending a hand instead of shaking a fist
Tse was scooped up in that probe to face trial in Brooklyn, along with a handful of Chinese
colleagues and three mobsters linked to Montreal. He ended up pleading guilty to conspiracy to
import heroin into the United States and was sentenced to nine years in prison. He was released in 2006
returned to Canada, and then started spending more and more of his time in Hong Kong and
other places in Asia. I've uncovered old wiretaps of pill traffickers from Guangzhou who were living
in Canada talking about their association with Sam Gor while they were running the largest
ecstasy ring on the continent. Police at the time, though, didn't realize who they were talking about
The speed of his rebuilding is remarkable. Although still having family in Canada
he started spending more time in Asia and brought together an alliance of five of Asia's Triads
He apparently made them an offer they couldn't refuse — not because of fear
but because of greed. There was too much profit to not want to be a part of it, to not need to
be a part of it. And everyone did well under his management. It soon became a well-oiled
machine, working with the efficiency of a global corporation and reaping the profits to match
The Australian authorities are now arranging for Tse to be extradited to Australia to face trial
That'll be a trial for the ages
Thanks for watching