FBIS4-45239
"jptdd023__l94083"
JPRS-TDD-94-023-L
JPRS
Narcotics
27 March 1994
WEST EUROPE
SPAIN
Heroin Trafficking Among Four `Tentacles' of Chinese Mafia
Heroin Trafficking Among Four `Tentacles' of Chinese Mafia
94ES0301B Madrid EL MUNDO in Spanish 27 Mar 94 p 71--FOR
OFFICIAL USE ONLY
94ES0301B
Madrid EL MUNDO
Spanish
CSO
[Article: "Tentacles of Crime"]
[Text] "The success of the Dragon leaders is undeniable. In
the last few months we have been forced to face an enormous
problem, one with which we were not equipped to deal," says a
police inspector working on the subject.
The growth of Chinese mafias has been accompanied by a surge
in illegal immigration. To smuggle large numbers of illegals
into Spain, Chinese mafias have recourse to many techniques.
Police suspect the Chinese crime syndicates are dispatching
ships with holds crammed full of illegal immigrants; "cargo" is
then off-loaded, on the high seas, into boats operated by drug
smugglers now trafficking in human flesh.
Police reached this conclusion after noting the sudden
appearance of large numbers of Chinese citizens in Galicia.
Also, some Chinese have been arrested approaching beaches in
southern Spain in small Moroccan fishing boats.
In large part, the success of Chinese mafia leaders derives
from their unusual methods. The heads of the organizations all
reside in Hong Kong or mainland China; their "delegations" in
Europe keep their principal headquarters in London or Amsterdam.
Third-level operatives are constantly on the move all over
Europe, looking for illegal activities with the greatest profit
potential and relocating to a new country as soon as they come
to the notice of police.
In Spain, they have concentrated on four areas: exploiting
the "slave labor" of illegal immigrants, prostitution, extortion
targeting the resident Chinese community, and heroin trafficking.
Turkish Decline
The Chinese organizations are well-structured and
commercially sophisticated, a fact that has allowed them to
displace other criminal syndicates. Thus there has been a
decline in the activities of the Turkish mafia, which Spanish
police had already been fairly successful in combatting over the
last few years but which has lost even more ground to the
Chinese, who distribute a better grade of heroin, "China white,"
at better prices and with reduced risk.
In a few short months, the Chinese mafia have carved out a
niche for themselves in the criminal underworld, and Spanish
police are putting together teams of experts who--with advice
from British and Dutch specialists--are beginning to map the
confusing tangle of Chinese illegal organizations.
So far, four "tentacles" have been identified in Spain. The
biggest of the Chinese mafias is Sap Sie Kee, also know as "14
K." The organization was born during the civil war in China in
the 1940's, and over time it has degenerated into a criminal
ring specializing in the heroin traffic.
Sap Sie Kee, believed to have more than 10,000 members
worldwide, "commercializes" most of the heroin produced in
Southeast Asia.
In Spain, it has two modus operandi. First, it operates
behind the "cover" of various businesses that specialize in
importation of oriental food products. Second, it hires African
immigrants and sends them to Thailand to serve as "mules"
transporting illegal drugs.
These operations sometimes leave visible traces. Several
days
ago, an African lost a leg after falling onto the subway tracks
in downtown Madrid, shoved by three Chinese who took flight.
Police theorize that he was shoved, in a dispute triggered by
the disappearance of a heroin packet the African had promised to
bring back from Bangkok, and that the Chinese were Sap Sie Kee
mafiosi.
A second group is called Sun Yee On, whose leaders live in
mainland China; it specializes in illegal immigration.
Sun Yee On recruits intending emigrants in China, loads them
into boats in international waters near Hong Kong, and ships
them all over the world. Depending on circumstances, emigrants
pay between 1 and 2 million pesetas. To get them to their
destinations, the syndicate resorts to unusual routings: In some
cases, they are taken to airports and fly into Europe bearing
false travel documents. In other cases, they travel hidden in
the holds of merchant ships that drop them off on the coasts of
Spain, France, or Italy.
There have been instances where illegal immigrants have
spent
months on these "floating prisons," waiting for a propitious
moment to disembark on the coast or at ports in defiance of the
authorities.
Oriental Women
To make matters even more difficult for police, Sun Yee On
in
recent weeks has been using large numbers of false Mexican,
Peruvian, and Bolivian passports in which false immigrant visas
for Spain have been stamped. Once immigrants reach Barajas
airport, the organization hides them for a short period of time,
issues new travel documents, and then sends them onward from
Madrid to the United States. Several weeks ago, police
apprehended a number of Chinese immigrants using this route as
they prepared to leave Spain for New York.
The third organization is Wo On Lok, which specializes in
pornographic videos, prostitution, and trafficking in children.
It relocates women from the brothels of Manila and Bangkok
and works them in Spanish bathhouses. In recent cases
investigated by police, the women were collecting 15,000 pesetas
from each client, were allowed to keep 1,500 for themselves, and
turned over to their "protectors" profits that amounted to some
700,000 pesetas per month.
The last of the groups working in Spain is called Dai Hoon
and operates as a clandestine bank, providing ready cash at high
interest rates. Illegal immigrants denied access to regular
banks go to Dai Hoon, usually working themselves deeper and
deeper into debt. The syndicate is also moving into "protection
rackets" targeting the proprietors of Chinese restaurants and
business establishments.
Although there is some division of labor, all four mafias
are
involved in every domain.
The organizations have an organic structure which they
maintain with rigid military discipline. In general, each mafia
is organized into three-person "cells," also known as "triads,"
in which one person, referred to as the "trusty," serves as
chief and handles relations with other cells, while the other
two are "foot-soldiers." To the latter fall the tasks of
administering beatings, collecting debts, and murdering rivals
when ordered to do so.
Sap Sie Kee (14 K)
This is the biggest crime syndicate in the world and has a
budget bigger than that of many national governments. It
specializes in heroin trafficking. It distributes all the drug
production of Southeast Asia and has close to 10,000 members
worldwide. A major headache for police everywhere, the
organization was built out of remnants of the Nationalist army
after its defeat by Mao Ze Dung.
Sun Yee On
Though involved in all types of criminal activity, its
biggest money-makers are emigration and exploitation of "slave"
labor. The organization's main headquarters are in the Chinese
interior, in Fujian, the starting point for most clandestine
departures. It does so much business that it no longer involves
itself in sale of false documents. Now it transports boatloads
of emigrants, dropping them off on the coasts of Europe and the
United States.
Wo On Lok
This syndicate has a near monopoly on prostitution, the
pornographic film industry, and child-trafficking for
pedophiles. Its leaders are ensconced somewhere in the bowels of
Hong Kong's brothel districts; it is mainly a syndicate of
pimps. Wo On Lok's European headquarters are in Amsterdam, but
it constantly shifts women around to increase profits. In Spain,
it often markets its girls as "Japanese."
Dai Hoon
The very name of this mafia syndicate--which translates as
"The Big Club"--suggests the image of a mutual support society.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, it is an
illegal bank that lends money at usurious interest rates and
ends up enslaving its clients. It acts as a clandestine bank,
making loans for gambling purposes as well as to defray
settling-in costs of illegal immigrants. It also extorts money
from restaurants.