Tse Chi Lop

Tse Chi Lop (, born 25 October 1963 ) is a Chinese and Canadian gangster, drug trafficker and drug cartel leader. Before his arrest, Tse was the alleged drug lord behind Asia-Pacific based international crime syndicate Sam Gor, also referred to as "The Company", and a former member of the Hong Kong, Toronto and Vancouver-based triad crime group Big Circle Gang. Despite his extensive involvement in the illegal drug trade and a previous conviction, his criminal activities were unknown to the public until uncovered by a Reuters report in 2019. Known to be intelligent, humble and diplomatic, Tse's behind-the-scene innovation reshaped drug smuggling in the Asia-Pacific as he quietly accumulated tremendous wealth in the process.

In 2019, Sam Gor generated billions of US dollars each year from the trade in methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs. As a result, Tse is frequently referred to as "the 'El Chapo' of Asia" by the media.

In contrast to other well-known drug cartel leaders, Tse kept a low profile despite living a rich lifestyle and was virtually unknown to law enforcement. His role was gradually unearthed through the captures of his associates. At the time of the Reuters' report in 2019, Tse became wanted in Australia for his involvements in controlling 70 percent of the local meth supply. After spending time in Taiwan under official surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic-related border lockdowns, Tse was finally arrested by Dutch National Police in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on 22 January 2021 while on a layover to re-enter Canada. He was extradited to Australia on 22 December 2022, and is awaiting trial.

Early life Tse was born in Guangzhou on 25 October 1963. He joined the Big Circle Gang, a criminal organization originated from Guangzhou and founded by youths who grew up under the Cultural Revolution, in his youth, and would continue to maintain his membership and connections with the group. In his early days in Toronto, Tse worked for Fujifilm and Kodak and made decent wages. In his early years in Canada, Tse, then only a mid-level member, negotiated a business partnership with the Toronto branch of the Montreal-based Rizzuto crime family to smuggle high-purity and low-cost heroin into Canada from the Golden Triangle for distribution through the American Mafia's networks in the US and Italy. Such business partnerships were unusual as the Mafia at that time generally refused to routinely trade with Asian organised criminal groups, yet surveillance wiretaps by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed Tse to be the point man and the Mafia's earliest Chinese business partner in the heroin trade. By 1997, Tse would become the main person overseeing drug transport from Southeast Asia to Canada.

After his return to Canada, Tse shifted his interest to synthetic drug trade in the Asia-Pacific, as the demand of heroin has reduced and his existing Mafia-based North American distribution network had collapsed.

In Sam Gor's early years, Tse pioneered a "guaranteed delivery" system by which his organisation would replace any seized drugs free of charge.

Market domination and personal wealth By the late 2010s, Tse became the biggest drug dealer in the Asia-Pacific, controlling over 70 per cent of the Australian meth supply and was also the dominant drug distributor of Japanese, South Korean and Philippine drug markets. Overall, Sam Gor in its heyday had a 40 per cent to 70 per cent share of the US$90-billion-worth Asia-Pacific drug trade. The proliferation of meth also sharply reduced its price by up to 70 percent in certain countries. A report from the Sydney Morning Herald alleged that Tse had been "residing" in Taipei "for several years." The AFP immediately started the process for his extradition from the Netherlands. The arrest was the culmination of Operation Kungur, led by the AFP with cooperation between Dutch and Taiwanese police, and supported by roughly twenty law enforcement agencies in Canada, China, Japan, Myanmar, Thailand, and the US (including the DEA).

In July 2021 a Dutch court approved an order to extradite Tse to Australia to face trial. As of November 2021, the Australian government has only charged him with one count of drug smuggling, in connection with evidence obtained through the 2013 surveillance. The trial of Tse was still pending as of August 2024.

In December 2025, Tse Chi Lop made a plea deal and was sentenced to 16 years in jail, with a non-parole period of 10 years. The nearly five years Tse has spent in custody were counted as time served. He will be eligible for parole in January 2031. During the sentencing proceeding, it was revealed that, under usual circumstances, Tse would have faced a potential maximum sentence of life in prison. However, as County Court judge Peter Rozen noted, an "unusual" deal struck between former Australian attorney-general Michaelia Cash and Dutch authorities for Tse’s extradition meant the maximum penalty could only be at most 25 years. Even that was cut short due to the discount resulting from the guilty plea.

In popular culture In November 2021 Discovery released a documentary on Tse titled The World's Biggest Druglord – Tse Chi Lop on Discovery+ as well as on its linear channels in South East Asia, Taiwan, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. He also features as a character in the New Zealand TV series Far North.