Sam Gor ( zh, link=no, t=三哥), also known as The Company, is an international crime syndicate, based in Asia-Pacific. The organization is made up of members of five different triads: 14K,

Bamboo Union The United Bamboo Gang (UBG; ; Bamboo Union triad) is the largest of Taiwan's three main criminal Triads. They are reported to have roughly 10,000 members. The membership consists largely of '' waishengren'' (Mainland Chinese) and has had his ...

, Big Circle Boys,

Sun Yee On Sun Yee On ( zh, t=新義安), or the New Righteousness and Peace Commercial and Industrial Guild, is one of the leading triads in Hong Kong and China. It has more than 25,000 members worldwide. It is also believed to be active in the UK, the ...

and

Wo Shing Wo Wo Shing Wo or WSW () is the oldest of the Wo Group triad societies, and is the triad with the longest history in Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong police, the triad is involved in extortion, drug trafficking, gambling and prostitution.

. Sam Gor is understood to be headed by Chinese–Canadian

Tse Chi Lop Tse Chi Lop ( zh, , first=t, t=謝志樂, s=谢志乐, p=Xiè Zhìlè, j=Ze6 Zi3-lok6, born 1963) is the alleged drug lord, kingpin behind Asia-Pacific based international crime syndicate, crime supersyndicate Sam Gor, also referred to as "The C ...

, who was arrested in January 2021 in the Netherlands. The syndicate is primarily involved in drug trafficking, earning at least $8 billion per year. "Sam Gor is alleged to control between 40 and 70% of the Asia-Pacific

methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...

market, while also trafficking heroin,

ketamine Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic used medically for induction and maintenance of anesthesia. It is also used as a recreational drug. It is one of the safest anesthetics, as, in contrast with opiates, ether, and propofol, it suppresses ne ...

and synthetic drugs, and precursor chemicals. The group is active or working with organized crime partners in a variety of countries, including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan and Vietnam. Sam Gor previously produced meth in Southern China and is now believed to manufacture mainly in the

Golden Triangle Golden Triangle may refer to: Places Asia * Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production * Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development * Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...

, specifically

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, responsible for much of the massive surge of crystal meth in recent years.

Leadership

The group is understood to be headed by

, a gangster born in

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

, China. Tse is a former member of the Hong Kong-based crime group, the

Big Circle Gang The Big Circle Gang is a Chinese triad which was established in Hong Kong in the 1970's. They were given the moniker "Big Circle Gang" and were formed by former members of the Red Guards, a paramilitary organization established by Mao Zedong du ...

. In 1988, Tse immigrated to Canada and built the foundations of this syndicate in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. In 1998, Tse was convicted of transporting heroin through Canada into the United States in partnership with the

Rizzuto crime family The Rizzuto crime family () is an organized crime family based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, whose criminal activity covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) considers the family a facti ...

which was the dominant North American Italian mafia family at the time. Tse served nine years behind bars with fellow Big Circle Boys associates Wai dai Cheung and Chung wai hung. Tse has been compared in prominence to

Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera (; born 4 April 1957), commonly known as "El Chapo" (), is a Mexican former drug lord and a former leader within the Sinaloa Cartel, an international crime syndicate. He is considered to have been one of th ...

and

Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in h ...

. Tse has been wanted for years and subject to an Interpol notice since 2019 after he was named publicly. Tse was arrested en route to Canada from Taiwan during a stop over in Amsterdam 22 January 2021. The

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...

(AFP) is seeking his extradition from the Netherlands to face trial. The arrest was the culmination of multi-year Operation Kungur, led by the AFP and supported in different ways by twenty law enforcement agencies with interests in the case including from Canada, China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Macau SAR, Myanmar, New Zealand, Thailand, and the US (including the

DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...

). Taiwan's

Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB; ) is a criminal-investigation and counter-intelligence agency reporting under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The agency is run by the Director-General which is accoun ...

assisted. It remains unclear how he was able to live without detection or arrest in Taiwan after being public named in 2019. Raising concerns about the influence of organized crime in the region after the arrest, UNODC Regional Representative Jeremy Douglas commented "It's a great result... t the organisation remains". He added, "...while taking down syndicate leadership matters, the conditions they have effectively used in the region to do business remain unaddressed, and the network remains in-place. The demand for synthetic drugs has been built, and someone will step in to replace Tse."

Organization

Sam Gor is made up of 14K,

and

. The group does business with many other local crime groups such as the

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

in Japan and the

Comanchero Motorcycle Club The Comanchero Motorcycle Club is an outlaw motorcycle gang in Australia. The Comancheros are participants in the United Motorcycle Council of NSW, which convened a conference in 2009 to address legislation aimed against the "bikie" clubs, the ...

and Lebanese mafia in Australia. A June 2020 news article stated that factories run by major organized crime groups, located on or near the borders of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, were "protected by private militias". In spite of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

production the trafficking of synthetic drugs and chemicals continues at record levels in the region. The

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC; French: ''Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime'') is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the ...

estimated that Sam Gor generated between $8 billion and $17.7 billion in revenue from meth in 2018 and that the triad had "expanded at least fourfold in the past five years". In December 2022, the syndicate owner was arrested by Australian police and will face court.

References

{{reflist

External links

Transnational Organized Crime in Southeast Asia: Evolution, Growth and Challenges
Chinese gangs Drug cartels Transnational organized crime Organised crime groups in Australia Organized crime groups in China Organized crime groups in Japan Organized crime groups in Myanmar Organised crime groups in New Zealand Organized crime groups in Taiwan Organised crime groups in Thailand