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The story of Zhao Fugang extends beyond one man. Rather, it starkly embodies the broader contest for influence in the South Pacific, as well as how the region’s police forces have emerged as a key battleground.
It was the end of a long game of cat and mouse with authorities around the world, and one that has been welcomed by police in New Zealand. The sting was engineered by Australian Federal Police (AFP), whom the New Zealand Police’s Detective Superintendent Greg Williams, national manager of organised crime, congratulated. “Tse Chi Lop and his network [have] had a significant negative impact on communities in both Australia and New Zealand as a result of their role in the methamphetamine trade, seen particularly with the fall in methamphetamine prices in Southeast Asia in recent years,”...
Suspected members of the organisation also have high level links to governments across the region, having invested in large infrastructure ventures under the Chinese Communist Party’s Belt and Road Scheme, a massive economic project that aims to build trade and transport links from East Asia to Europe. A 2012 briefing from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission described The Company’s members' “well-established network of contacts across many governments as well as legitimate business and company structures, that enables them to mask and support their criminal activities". L...