The Netherlands extradites “El Chapo of Asia” to Australia

The Netherlands has extradited a 59-year-old Canadian man known as Asia’s El Chapo to Australia. The Chi Lop was apprehended nearly two years ago at Schiphol Airport while on a stopover as he made his way from Taiwan to Canada.

Australian police accuse Tse of leading a the Sam Gor syndicate, also known as The Company. The organization was said to be responsible for 70 percent of drugs entering Australia mainly through the sale of crystal meth, other methamphetamine, and heroin, according to local media.

“The AFP will allege the man was part of a conspiracy to traffic separate quantities of methamphetamine, (or derivatives of the drug), totaling 20kg, between March 2012 and March 2013. It is alleged the seized drugs have a street value of up to $4.4 million dollars in today’s prices,” the AFP said in a statement. That converts to approximately 2.79 million euros.

Dutch police said Tse’s arrest went “quietly” when he was taken into custody at Schiphol on 22 January 2021. His arrest was on behalf of the AFP who had submitted an Interpol Red Notice request for his detention.

His bid to fight extradition failed in the Dutch court system. "Mass media calls me the king of a drug cartel, but that's not right. I'm afraid that if I go to Australia and there is a court case, the judge will see me through tinted lenses and treat me unfairly,” he told a Rotterdam court last year, according to ANP. “Media spread rumors that are not the truth, that's why I'm very scared."

He was expected to appear in court in Melbourne on Thursday to face commercial drug trafficking charges. “The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment,” the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement.

Sam Gor leaders allegedly conspired with people lower in the organization to transport drugs across Australia, and launder money in that country and abroad, sometimes using a bank account in the name of an Australian casino.