Chung Chak Lee Wiki – Chung Chak Lee Biography
An accused drug cartel kingpin arrived in Australia in handcuffs and designer strings while facing charges of importing 40kg of methamphetamine into the country.
Chung Chak Lee, 66, was extradited from Thailand on Saturday after a decade on the Australian Federal Police’s most wanted list. Police allege that he is the right-hand man of The Company, a notorious $23 billion-a-year drug empire.
Lee is understood to be second only to Chi Lop Tse, known as El Chapo of Asia. He was arrested in Bangkok in October 2020 and spent 18 months languishing inside a Thai prison before being extradited to Melbourne on a Singapore Airlines flight.
Arrested
His arrest is a major blow to the cartel, which brings in up to 70 percent of Australia’s methamphetamine from Asia and has been accused of laundering money through Crown Casino.
Australian police spent more than a decade searching for Lee, working with authorities in as many as 20 countries to monitor and eventually capture him. He was sixth on Australia’s most wanted list.
The 66-year-old arrived in Australia wearing a black Armani T-shirt and Balenciaga sunglasses.
Charged
“This is an important milestone after years of persistent investigative work by AFP and our partners,” Krissy Barrett, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner for Southern Command, told the Daily Telegraph.
“We will allege that the man is a senior criminal associate of the head of a prolific transnational organized crime syndicate involved in the trafficking of commercial quantities of controlled drugs across the border within Australia and around the world.
‘The Australian Federal Police has an international network of partners who are committed to tracking down criminals and bringing them to justice.
‘If you commit a crime, there is nowhere to hide. The AFP has the means and the patience to locate you. Lee appeared at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Saturday afternoon charged with one count of trafficking a commercial quantity of drugs.
El Chapo de Asia’ Tse Chi Lop Arrested
His public defender declared a conflict of interest, so the case was delayed to ensure that Lee could seek adequate representation.
The arrest is a major victory for Australian detectives as they work to dismantle the cartel.
In January 2021, Tse was dragged off a plane in the Netherlands after the Australian Federal Police issued an arrest request through the international police agency Interpol.
The Chinese-born Canadian citizen nicknamed ‘El Chapo of Asia’ is accused of being one of the world’s largest methamphetamine traffickers. He was the number one target of the Australian Federal Police.
Tse now faces extradition to Australia, where he could face trial on drug trafficking charges.
He allegedly oversees an alliance of five Chinese triads that distribute everything from heroin and MDMA to ketamine through their ‘Golden Triangle’ superlabs in Asia.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that Tse’s alleged network rakes in between $10 billion and $23 billion a year from organized crime.
Law enforcement agencies from some 20 countries, including the US, Canada, Myanmar, China, Thailand and Japan, have been hunting Tse as part of Operation Kungur since 2019.
Finding Tse was difficult because he lived largely in the shadows and had a rotating team of Thai kickboxers as guards.
Despite his low profile, he is also known for his extravagant spending and wild parties. He once gambled $85 million in a single night at a Macau casino, flew private jets and threw lavish parties at five-star hotels and resorts.
Chung Chak Lee Quick and Facts
- Accused drug kingpin extradited to Australia after a decade on most wanted list
- Chung Chak Lee has long been considered right-hand man of Asia’s ‘El Chapo’
- Police allege he trafficked at least 40kgs of drugs – mostly meth – into Melbourne
