The Asian drug cartel Sam Gor trades in illegal methamphetamine products worldwide.
It is suspected of laundering its revenues by investing in real estate, hotels and casinos in Southeast Asia, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Now the alleged boss of Sam Gor, the native Chinese Tse Chi Lop, has been arrested in the Netherlands.
Access to the 56-year-old was at the request of the Australian Federal Police, as the Australian authorities announced on Sunday.
The Australian attorney general is preparing an extradition request for him.
According to the Australian news website ABC.net, Tse was caught at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport while trying to board a plane.
He is said to have been between Macau, Hong Kong and Taiwan in recent years.
Australia accuses the cartel of smuggling "substantial amounts of heroin and methamphetamine" into the country.
According to the BBC, the Australian Federal Police assume that Sam Gor brings 70 percent of illegal drugs into the country.
Tse, who is a Canadian citizen, is often compared to the notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
In 2012 and 2013, the Australian police seized assets valued at around 9 million Australian dollars (5.7 million euros) in raids against the cartel in Melbourne.
The arrest of Tses around eight years later is considered a major breakthrough in the Australian investigation into the drug gang.
According to estimates by UNODC, criminal gangs from Southeast Asia make more than 60 billion dollars (almost 50 billion euros) annually.
Methamphetamine-based intoxicants are produced in Asia, primarily in the state of Shan in eastern Myanmar.
The required chemical ingredients usually enter the country via the Chinese border.
Icon: The mirror
kha / AFP
