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Pong Su investigation

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The Last Voyage of the Pong Su podcast

A North Korean dictator, bags of heroin, drug lords, spooks, sailors, Australian cops and a web of lies.

  • Dave McMillan

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Pong Su off the coast of Lorne, Victoria.

The never-before-revealed phone call that kicked off the Pong Su drug saga

How did police know there was a drug ship with hundreds of kilograms of heroin approaching the Victorian coast? It all started with one phone call in Thailand.

  • Richard Baker
Pong Su crew members being escorted out of Sydney Central Local Court in 2003

Were they executed? The fate of the Pong Su crew when they got back to North Korea

Detective Appleby, who is the AFP’s senior liaison officer in Hong Kong, stressed that though it was his informed belief that as many as 26 of the 30 crew were executed, it was not a confirmed fact.

  • Richard Baker
Still from a video of the discovery of body of unidentified man at Boggaley Creek on April 16, 2003.

Watch: The Pong Su tapes

A trove of police tapes and news footage unveils fascinating and dramatic moments in the Pong Su saga.

  • Richard Baker and Rachael Dexter
SAS troops intercept Pong Su.

Behind the scenes of The Last Voyage of the Pong Su

An inside look into The Age and Sydney Morning Herald's latest podcast The Last Voyage of the Pong Su.

  • Rachael Houlihan
Ta Sa Wong pictured inside Yongah Hill detention centre in Western Australia, not long before his deportation in August 2019.

After 16 years, North Korea finally stops denying Pong Su drug smugglers

For 16 years, two men at the centre of the Pong Su saga denied they were from North Korea, and the rogue nation disowned them. Last July, all that changed.

  • Richard Baker
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915 kilograms of heroin seized from a drug vessel in the Western Indian Ocean in January 2018.

'Take the fun out of drug trafficking,' says Pong Su chief investigator

The Pong Su's haul of heroin was a record 150 kilograms. Nowadays, a tonne of drugs is a daily occurrence, says a senior AFP detective.

  • Richard Baker
AFP show the heroin linked to the Pong Su that has infamous Double UO Globe Brand logo

The heroin shipped to Australia by the Pong Su was probably a knock-off brand

The heroin was bearing the Double UO Globe branding - one of the major brands in the illicit drug market. However it was revealed it was most likely a high-quality fake.

  • Richard Baker
The faces to the voices of 'The Last Voyage of the Pong Su'.

Who's who in 'The Last Voyage of the Pong Su'?

Meet the faces behind the voices in our latest investigative podcast series.

Jong Dok-hong interviewed after arrest 

Passing secret notes: How the Pong Su's radio operator broke ranks

Jong Dok-hong was in detention at Baxter immigration centre when he passed a series of notes to Australian authorities suggesting how they conduct their investigation.

  • Richard Baker

Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/topic/pong-su-related-1n80