LaPresse Tse Lop and Wilful Blindness

Canadian gangster Tse Chi Lop, once active in Montreal and now accused of becoming the largest drug trafficker in all of Asia, believes several countries have recently maneuvered together to prevent him from taking refuge in Canada, where our system would have given him better protection against an extradition attempt.

"This is what we believe is happening, and this is what we have asked the court in Rotterdam to examine," confirmed his lawyer André Seebregts, joined by La Presse in the Netherlands , where Tse Chi Lop is being held awaiting authorities to rule on an Australian extradition request.

Tse Chi Lop, 57, is a well-known member of the Big Circle Boys, a network of criminals from Guangzhou, China, which first spread to Hong Kong and then all over the world. He immigrated to Canada in 1988 and settled in Ontario, where he obtained his citizenship. As early as the 1990s, his name began to circulate in Montreal in relation to various illicit activities, according to transcripts of testimony heard in court. He had associates in Quebec, where he sometimes went on business.

Tse Chi Lop was sent to jail only once, following a joint operation by the FBI and the Montreal Police Department. In 1998, he was arrested in a joint operation between the FBI and the Montreal Police Department (SPVM). For organizing the smuggling of heroin from Canada to New York with the help of the Montreal mafia, he was sentenced to nine years in prison.

After his release, he moved to Asia, where he is accused of organizing a "mega-fusion" of Asian organized crime groups into a huge crime syndicate dubbed "Sam Gor". His group is said to be dominant in drug trafficking across the continent.

"It is certainly no exaggeration to compare him to El Chapo or Pablo Escobar," Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Bangkok, told La Presse last winter. .

More convenient to send to the Netherlands Tse Chi Lop had been living in Taiwan for some time, according to his lawyer. In January, authorities suddenly told him that his immigration status was not in order and that he should be deported to his country of citizenship, Canada. Within hours, he found himself on a plane. That day, there was a direct flight from Taiwan to Canada, says Seebregts. But his client was instead put on a flight stopping in Amsterdam. During the stopover, Dutch police arrested him and told him he would be detained under an extradition request from Australia, which wants to try him on drug trafficking charges.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY ANDRÉ SEEBREGTS

André Seebregts, lawyer for Tse Chi Lop in the Netherlands suggested that Taiwanese law provides that you can only be sent to your country of nationality unless you agree to be sent elsewhere.

My client never gave his consent to be sent to the Netherlands. André Seebregts, lawyer for Tse Chi Lop in the Netherlands “Another strange fact: a prosecutor in the Netherlands admitted that eight days earlier the Australians had contacted the Dutch authorities and told them that my client would be arriving here,” he said. According to Me Seebregts, authorities in Australia, Taiwan and the Netherlands appear to have collaborated to have the extradition request made elsewhere than in Canada, where Tse Chi Lop was returning.

"It was much more practical to send him to the Netherlands than to Canada to request his extradition," believes the lawyer, who asked the Rotterdam court on Tuesday to look into the circumstances of the case, which could have deprived Tse Chi Lop of a full defense. Fear of a life sentence Australian judges can impose extremely severe penalties in criminal cases. Dozens of inmates in Australia are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Given that Tse Chi Lop is portrayed as the leader of a bloodthirsty and extremely dangerous organization, his lawyer fears he could face such punishment.

In Canada and the Netherlands, the risk of receiving such a heavy sentence could be grounds for challenging extradition. "It could certainly be the basis of an argument asking the Minister of Justice not to order extradition," said Quebec lawyer Stéphane Handfield, who has already challenged several extradition requests in Canada. Dutch law, however, allows a foreign country to request the extradition of an accused for certain minor crimes and to add new, much heavier charges once he has been extradited.

The accused is thus extradited without fear of an unusually heavy sentence, then the new charges

In Canada and the Netherlands, the risk of receiving such a heavy sentence could be grounds for challenging extradition. "It could certainly be the basis of an argument asking the Minister of Justice not to order extradition," said Quebec lawyer Stéphane Handfield, who has already challenged several extradition requests in Canada.

Dutch law, however, allows a foreign country to request the extradition of an accused for certain minor crimes and to add new, much heavier charges once he has been extradited. The accused is thus extradited without fear of an unusually heavy sentence, and then the new charges are added. Andre Seebregts believes this is the strategy adopted in his client's case, as Australia has only requested his extradition for a very small portion of the crimes of which he is apparently suspected.

In Canada, such a strategy would not work.

If Canada agrees to extradite someone for a crime, the destination country cannot add new crimes to the same file after the extradition.

Stéphane Handfield, an immigration lawyer

In addition, Tse Chi Lop is currently being held in a maximum-security prison while waiting for the Dutch justice to rule on his fate. In Canada, he likely could have been released and stayed comfortably at home during the process.

Me Seebregts says detention is difficult for his client, who still wishes to return to Canada. "He denies all the allegations against him," he said.

Tuesday, in court, Tse Chi Lop denied leading a criminal organization. "The mass media calls me a drug lord, but that is not true," he said, according to comments quoted by the ANP news agency.

Aborted investigation

Calvin Chrustie, former officer in charge of major investigative projects for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in British Columbia, believes Australian police would have had good reason to be concerned if the extradition issue had been addressed in Canadian courts.

According to Journalist Sam Cooper, citing confidential sources, in his book Wilful Blindness Ortis’s unit was not interested in Tse Chi Lop’s ties […] And the RCMP’s fledgling investigation into Sam Gor in Markham faltered.

At the same time, the priority given to international Chinese organized crime groups was reduced within the RCMP, the author claims. "Some within the RCMP wonder if Ortis influenced these strange decisions", as Cooper cites in his work published with the Editions Optimum.

Shortly thereafter, in 2019, Cameron Ortis was arrested for passing confidential information on to criminals and attempting to pass Canadian secrets to a "foreign entity". He is awaiting trial in this regard.

On Wednesday, the RCMP told La Presse that they continue to collaborate in criminal investigations with Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand in what they call the "Group of five from the police ”. And that all members continue to support each other.

“Communication and collaboration among all members of the Group of Five remain active, productive and desired by all partners,” said Corporal Kim Chamberland.

Tse Chi Lop's case will return to court in Rotterdam on July 2.

Dutch law, however, allows a foreign country to request the extradition of an accused for certain minor crimes and to add new, much heavier charges once he has been extradited. The accused is thus extradited without fear of an unusually heavy sentence, then the new charges.are laid in the country they are extradited to,