Hunt for Asia’s ‘El Chapo’ over record Melbourne ice haul
A kingpin dubbed Asia’s El Chapo is suspected by police of being responsible for trafficking 1.6 tonnes of ice and heroin in stereo speakers from Thailand into Melbourne in Australia’s largest onshore methamphetamine seizure.
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A feared drug kingpin, branded Asia’s El Chapo, is being hunted over the importation of Australia’s largest onshore methamphetamine seizure.
Chinese-born Tse Chi Lop is the head of the multibillion-dollar Sam Gor syndicate, which police suspect is responsible for trafficking 1.6 tonnes of ice and heroin concealed in stereo speakers from Thailand into Melbourne, seized in April.
IT worker Stephen Francis Mizzi, 37, from Elwood, and couple Rachel Annette Cachia, 37, and Donovan Mark Rodrigues, 38 — both customs brokers from Darley — were charged on Thursday over the record haul, following raids across Melbourne on Wednesday morning.
The Herald Sun has been told they were operating at a low level in the syndicate.
The haul was worth more than $1 billion and was enough to produce than 16 million hits, or close to a quarter of Australia’s annual illicit drug intake.
Police believe Tse has masterminded the smuggling of huge quantities of ice into Australia over more than a decade.
Tse, who is also a Canadian national, is based in South East Asia and moves between different countries using multiple passports. Police believe his syndicate funnelled cash to the trio charged on Thursday in order to facilitate the distribution of methamphetamine in Australia.
Sources on Thursday night told the Herald Sun the Sam Gor syndicate was strongly suspected of being behind the plot. Thirteen search warrants were executed on Wednesday across several Melbourne suburbs, including Darley, Sunshine West, Brooklyn, Elwood and Murrumbeena.
More than 140 Australian Federal Police officers seized a large number of mobile phones, computers and paperwork in the raids.
AFP Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan said: “We feel they (Ms Cachia, Mr Rodrigues and Mr Mizzi) have been used by an organised crime syndicate, which has cultivated them to engage in the illicit activity they have undertaken.
“They used their position of trust to circumvent the border controls that exist within Australia.
“We know the people involved were probably middle to high-end of the echelon in the organised crime groups.
“There are people above them, we think we know who they are, we will keep working to try to bring them to justice.”
Sam Gor is a crime syndicate formed out of five different Triad groups.
International law enforcement officials believe the gang’s revenue from methamphetamine in 2018 was at least $8 billion.
The syndicate has overtaken Mexico’s cartels in ice trafficking in the South East Asian region. Police forces from Australia, North America and Europe are investigating the syndicate, with Tse the No.1 target. Tse, who has previously been convicted of transporting heroin to the US, has been compared to Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Colombia’s Pablo Escobar.
Australian Border Force officers found the drugs inside speakers at a container examination facility in April.
Ms Cachia and Mr Rodrigues face the bulk of the charges, with police alleging they allowed the unauthorised movement of goods subject to customs control, to unknown locations.
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All three appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday charged with a string of offences in relation to the importation.
The trio will return to court in May next year.