An alleged drug lord known as “Asia’s El Chapo” has been arrested in Amsterdam on suspicion of running a multi-billion dollar narcotics operation, authorities said.
Tse Chi Lop, a Chinese-born Canadian citizen, was detained without incident at Schiphol at the request of Australian police, who have led an international investigation into his cartel, Dutch police spokesman Thomas Aling said on Saturday.
“He was already on the Most Wanted List and was detained based on the information we received,” Aling said.
Authorities said Tse, 57, is the leader of Sam Gor Syndicate, which reportedly dominates the $ 70 billion a year Asia-Pacific drug trade.
Tse, an ex-convict who previously lived in Toronto, is said to have led the massive empire while living in Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Authorities allege that the cartel smuggled highly potent meth to more than a dozen countries, in addition to trafficking in heroin and MDMA.
The syndicate has been “associated with or directly involved in at least 13 cases” of drug trafficking since January 2015, court documents said.
Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has previously warned that Tse poses as much of a threat as other notorious drug lords.
“Tse Chi Lop is in the league of El Chapo or maybe Pablo Escobar,” he told Reuters.
The UNODC estimated that Tse’s group had a whopping $ 17 billion in its pocket in 2018.
Tse is expected to be extradited after appearing in court, the Dutch police said.
With pole wires