P1.6B drug bust points to ‘Sam Gor Syndicate’ now in PH

THE successful ‘controlled delivery’ of more than 200 kilos of illegal drugs initiated by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) last October 30, 2020 that started at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and ended up in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, pointed to the active presence in the Philippines of the so-called ‘The Company’ headed by a Chinese-Canadian national dubbed as the ‘El Chapo’ of Asia.

In a statement, the BOC said that the shipment, declared as “work bench tables” shipped by ‘Ywlee 87 Trading’ from Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia, arrived at the PSI Warehouse at the NAIA last October 24, 2020.

The shipment, however, actually consisted of “240 plastic packs of white crystalline substance” authorities later on confirmed as methamphetamine hydrochloride, commonly known as “shabu” and “crystal meth” elsewhere. Value of the illegal drugs was placed at more than P1.6 billion.

The recipient, ‘Allejam International Trading’ with business address in Manila, is a confirmed customs-registered importer, a customs official told Pinoy Exposé.

Learning from the lesson during an incident in May 2017, when a huge shipment of shabu was bungled by the BOC during a supposed ‘controlled delivery’ and boosted by the strengthened relationship between the BOC and the PDEA under customs commissioner, Rey Leonardo Guerrero, the joint effort, this time, proved successful, leading not only to the recovery of the entire drug shipment but also, the arrest of two Chinese nationals.

On release from NAIA on October 30, PDEA and BOC agents clandestinely followed the shipment to its final destination in Cabanatuan City where the recovery of the drugs and the arrest of the suspects were made.

The operation, thus far, is the most successful and biggest ‘controlled delivery’ operation by the government that could unmask others who conspired to bring in the illegal drugs.

‘Brother Number Three’

However, the package of the shipment alone is already a telling sign that the group behind the shipment is what international anti-drug authorities called as, ‘The Company.’

A special investigative report by ‘Reuters’ in October 2019 (‘The Hunt for Asia’s El Chapo’) disclosed that ‘The Company’ is an “alliance” of at least 5 Chinese syndicates (triads) headed by a certain ‘Tse Chi Lop,’ known in the organization as ‘Sam Gor,’ a Cantonese for ‘Brother Number 3.’

Tse, the report added, is 55-year old Chinese national who later on immigrated to Canada, then decided to return via Hongkong where he started building up his drug empire specializing in crystal meth. Sam Gor is now considered as among the biggest, if not the biggest, drug syndicate, in the world.

From the Reuters report:

“… Some investigators say that the scope of the syndicate’s operation puts Tse, as the suspected leader, on par with Latin America’s most legendary narco-traffickers.

“Tse Chi Lop is in the league of El Chapo or maybe Pablo Escobar,” said Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia and Pacific representative for UNODC.

“The word kingpin often gets thrown around, but there is no doubt it applies here.”

UNODC, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes, estimated that Sam Gor alone earns at least US$8 billion a year from its shabu operations while The Company, by as much as US$17 billion. In short, Tse’s illegal earnings already account for at least half of the entire triads’ gross annual income.

Establishing his manufacturing base in the lawless region of the Golden Triangle, Tse, the report said, has turned shabu production on an industrial scale that now supplies not only the entire Asia-Pacific region but also, the United States and Europe.

And call it his “trademark,” Tse always shipped his shabu wrapped in Chinese tea bags— the same package the shabu shipped from Malaysia last week the PDEA and the BOC found during the drug bust in Cabanatuan.

It should be noted that since 2018, after the brouhaha over the discovery of several abandoned ‘magnetic lifters’ in Cavite and believed to have contained hundreds of kilos of shabu had died down, majority of apprehended illegal drugs recovered by PDEA and the police were also packed in Chinese tea bags.

So, is ‘Brother Number 3’ already here in the Philippines?