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Tse Chi Lop
Tse Chi Lop (Chinese: 謝志樂, born 25 October 1963) is a Chinese and Canadian gangster, drug trafficker and drug cartel leader. Before his arrest, Tse was the alleged drug lord behind Asia-Pacific based international crime syndicate Sam Gor, also referred to as "The Company", and a former member of the Hong Kong, Toronto and Vancouver-based triad crime group Big Circle Gang. Despite his extensive involvement in the illegal drug trade and a previous conviction, his criminal activities were unknown to the public until uncovered by a Reuters report in 2019.
A career criminal, Tse was involved with organized crime in his native city Guangzhou from a young age. He immigrated to Canada in 1988 and acquired Canadian citizenship through naturalization. After being involved in heroin trafficking from Southeast Asia to North America for years, Tse was first arrested in 1998 and sentenced to 9 years' imprisonment by a US court. After his release, he moved to Hong Kong in 2011, where he founded Sam Gor and entered the synthetic drug trafficking market. Known to be intelligent, humble and diplomatic, Tse's behind-the-scene innovation reshaped drug smuggling in the Asia-Pacific as he quietly accumulated tremendous wealth in the process.
In 2019, Sam Gor generated billions of US dollars each year from the trade in methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs. Through Sam Gor, Tse controlled nearly half of Asia-Pacific's drug market and over 70 per cent of Australian drug trade. Sam Gor is believed to be responsible for the dramatic shift in recent years away from opium-based drugs such as heroin and towards synthetics such as methamphetamine, ketamine and fentanyl in Asia-Pacific, and has been implicated in large shipments to Australia by law enforcement. As a result, Tse is frequently referred to as "the 'El Chapo' of Asia" by the media.
In contrast to other well-known drug cartel leaders, Tse kept a low profile despite living a rich lifestyle and was virtually unknown to law enforcement. His role was gradually unearthed through the captures of his associates. At the time of the Reuters' report in 2019, Tse became wanted in Australia for his involvements in controlling 70 percent of the local meth supply. After spending time in Taiwan under official surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic-related border lockdowns, Tse was finally arrested by Dutch National Police in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on 22 January 2021 while on a layover to re-enter Canada. He was extradited to Australia on 22 December 2022, and is awaiting trial.
Tse was born in Guangzhou on 25 October 1963. He joined the Big Circle Gang, a criminal organization originated from Guangzhou and founded by youths who grew up under the Cultural Revolution, in his youth, and would continue to maintain his membership and connections with the group. He first moved to Hong Kong for a period before immigrating to Canada in 1988 with his fiancée; they settled in Toronto, Ontario and were married in 1989. In his early days in Toronto, Tse worked for Fujifilm and Kodak and made decent wages.
In Tse's 1998 statement given after his arrest, he claimed that his parents, as well as his in-laws, all moved to Canada after his immigration to be under his care due to their sickness, and that he had two children, one of whom was born with breathing problems. At the time of his arrest, Tse had acquired Canadian citizenship, however was reported as having lived in mainland China for a few years to oversee the heroin operation. He had been based in Hong Kong since 2011 until his arrest in 2021.
Tse continued his association with the Big Circle Gang in Toronto at the time when the group was trying to become established in Canada the late 1980s. In his early years in Canada, Tse, then only a mid-level member, negotiated a business partnership with the Toronto branch of the Montreal-based Rizzuto crime family to smuggle high-purity and low-cost heroin into Canada from the Golden Triangle for distribution through the American Mafia's networks in the US and Italy. Such business partnerships were unusual as the Mafia at that time generally refused to routinely trade with Asian organised criminal groups, yet surveillance wiretaps by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed Tse to be the point man[clarification needed] and the Mafia's earliest Chinese business partner in the heroin trade. The venture became successful as the Big Circle Gang dominated the heroin market in Toronto and slashed prices by over 40 per cent in just two years while the Mafia expanded their distribution to as far south as Florida. Investigators described Tse as a person eager to embrace innovation and take risks, and his Toronto experience sharpened his diplomatic ability to "bridge [different] groups," a skill he would later rely on in building his criminal empire. By 1997, Tse would become the main person overseeing drug transport from Southeast Asia to Canada.
In 1995, the Federal Bureau of Investigation learned of Tse's identity and involvement through the indictment of Tse's New York-based partners, Chinese-Canadian Paul Kwok and Malaysian Chinese Yong Bing Gong, in 1995. The FBI coordinated with the RCMP for Tse's arrest, but Tse has already relocated to mainland China at the time, a country with which the US has no extradition treaty. The FBI was unable to pursue Tse until 1998 when he travelled to Hong Kong, where the US would extradite him based on existing treaties. Tse was arrested on 12 August that year by the Hong Kong Police Force and overseen by FBI and RCMP agents. He was extradited to the US by the end of that year and was denied bail. While in custody, Tse was described to be highly intelligent, with a "calm, friendly and strategically tight-lipped" demeanor, a "down-to-earth" personality, and a "legit" and gentleman-like presence, according to the FBI agent and prosecutor in charge of his case.
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Tse Chi Lop
Tse Chi Lop (Chinese: 謝志樂, born 25 October 1963) is a Chinese and Canadian gangster, drug trafficker and drug cartel leader. Before his arrest, Tse was the alleged drug lord behind Asia-Pacific based international crime syndicate Sam Gor, also referred to as "The Company", and a former member of the Hong Kong, Toronto and Vancouver-based triad crime group Big Circle Gang. Despite his extensive involvement in the illegal drug trade and a previous conviction, his criminal activities were unknown to the public until uncovered by a Reuters report in 2019.
A career criminal, Tse was involved with organized crime in his native city Guangzhou from a young age. He immigrated to Canada in 1988 and acquired Canadian citizenship through naturalization. After being involved in heroin trafficking from Southeast Asia to North America for years, Tse was first arrested in 1998 and sentenced to 9 years' imprisonment by a US court. After his release, he moved to Hong Kong in 2011, where he founded Sam Gor and entered the synthetic drug trafficking market. Known to be intelligent, humble and diplomatic, Tse's behind-the-scene innovation reshaped drug smuggling in the Asia-Pacific as he quietly accumulated tremendous wealth in the process.
In 2019, Sam Gor generated billions of US dollars each year from the trade in methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs. Through Sam Gor, Tse controlled nearly half of Asia-Pacific's drug market and over 70 per cent of Australian drug trade. Sam Gor is believed to be responsible for the dramatic shift in recent years away from opium-based drugs such as heroin and towards synthetics such as methamphetamine, ketamine and fentanyl in Asia-Pacific, and has been implicated in large shipments to Australia by law enforcement. As a result, Tse is frequently referred to as "the 'El Chapo' of Asia" by the media.
In contrast to other well-known drug cartel leaders, Tse kept a low profile despite living a rich lifestyle and was virtually unknown to law enforcement. His role was gradually unearthed through the captures of his associates. At the time of the Reuters' report in 2019, Tse became wanted in Australia for his involvements in controlling 70 percent of the local meth supply. After spending time in Taiwan under official surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic-related border lockdowns, Tse was finally arrested by Dutch National Police in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on 22 January 2021 while on a layover to re-enter Canada. He was extradited to Australia on 22 December 2022, and is awaiting trial.
Tse was born in Guangzhou on 25 October 1963. He joined the Big Circle Gang, a criminal organization originated from Guangzhou and founded by youths who grew up under the Cultural Revolution, in his youth, and would continue to maintain his membership and connections with the group. He first moved to Hong Kong for a period before immigrating to Canada in 1988 with his fiancée; they settled in Toronto, Ontario and were married in 1989. In his early days in Toronto, Tse worked for Fujifilm and Kodak and made decent wages.
In Tse's 1998 statement given after his arrest, he claimed that his parents, as well as his in-laws, all moved to Canada after his immigration to be under his care due to their sickness, and that he had two children, one of whom was born with breathing problems. At the time of his arrest, Tse had acquired Canadian citizenship, however was reported as having lived in mainland China for a few years to oversee the heroin operation. He had been based in Hong Kong since 2011 until his arrest in 2021.
Tse continued his association with the Big Circle Gang in Toronto at the time when the group was trying to become established in Canada the late 1980s. In his early years in Canada, Tse, then only a mid-level member, negotiated a business partnership with the Toronto branch of the Montreal-based Rizzuto crime family to smuggle high-purity and low-cost heroin into Canada from the Golden Triangle for distribution through the American Mafia's networks in the US and Italy. Such business partnerships were unusual as the Mafia at that time generally refused to routinely trade with Asian organised criminal groups, yet surveillance wiretaps by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed Tse to be the point man[clarification needed] and the Mafia's earliest Chinese business partner in the heroin trade. The venture became successful as the Big Circle Gang dominated the heroin market in Toronto and slashed prices by over 40 per cent in just two years while the Mafia expanded their distribution to as far south as Florida. Investigators described Tse as a person eager to embrace innovation and take risks, and his Toronto experience sharpened his diplomatic ability to "bridge [different] groups," a skill he would later rely on in building his criminal empire. By 1997, Tse would become the main person overseeing drug transport from Southeast Asia to Canada.
In 1995, the Federal Bureau of Investigation learned of Tse's identity and involvement through the indictment of Tse's New York-based partners, Chinese-Canadian Paul Kwok and Malaysian Chinese Yong Bing Gong, in 1995. The FBI coordinated with the RCMP for Tse's arrest, but Tse has already relocated to mainland China at the time, a country with which the US has no extradition treaty. The FBI was unable to pursue Tse until 1998 when he travelled to Hong Kong, where the US would extradite him based on existing treaties. Tse was arrested on 12 August that year by the Hong Kong Police Force and overseen by FBI and RCMP agents. He was extradited to the US by the end of that year and was denied bail. While in custody, Tse was described to be highly intelligent, with a "calm, friendly and strategically tight-lipped" demeanor, a "down-to-earth" personality, and a "legit" and gentleman-like presence, according to the FBI agent and prosecutor in charge of his case.