Thread: Asian drug cartel ‘enormous’

Asian drug cartel ‘enormous’

Tim Clarke, Legal Affairs Editor
Friday, February 17, 2017 8:25AM

Drug bust cash. Picture:

The Asian mafia drug syndicate behind the importation of 360kg of meth into WA is more sophisticated and expert than the State has ever seen, a court was told yesterday.

Yik To Ng, 21, was one of the trusted guardians of the massive amount of ice and more than a million dollars in cash when police raided the house in Canning Vale in 2015 and made the biggest drug bust in WA’s history.

Ng pleaded guilty six days into his trial last week after his partner in crime Pak Cheong Cheung described how they were recruited by criminal gangs in Hong Kong and brought separately to Australia to be the eyes and ears for the syndicate in Perth.

In a sentencing hearing in the District Court yesterday, it was revealed how Ng was led blindfolded to a fishing boat after being recruited in a Kowloon pool hall before being shipped to WA for 10 days before being dropped on a beach near South Hedland.

Waiting for him was a man with a van containing 360kg of meth — worth $360 million on the street — who drove him to Perth with the drugs, which were disguised as packets of Chinese tea.

A joint surveillance operation was already focusing on another member of the syndicate, Cheng Fatt Chow, and it was while authorities were watching him that they caught up with Ng, following him to the house where they found the stash of 315kg of the high-purity drugs and the cash.

Judge Laurie Levy said that in his experience of crime in WA, which as a defence lawyer included representing bikie gangs and drug syndicate members, he had never seen a cartel so organised.

“The network and number of people is enormous,” Judge Levy said.

Lawyer Sam Vandongen, representing Ng, said Ng and Cheong, who is yet to be sentenced, were “cannon fodder” for the syndicate heads.

The sentencing hearing was adjourned until next month.

https://thewest.com.au/news/wa/asian...-ng-b88389674z

That was a really big bust!!