Triads in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
Triads in the United Kingdom first appeared during the post-World War era with the 14K Triad
emerging in Chinese communities in London
, Birmingham
, Liverpool
and Manchester
in England
and Glasgow
, Edinburgh
and Dundee
in Scotland
as early as 1952. A later migration followed as members of Chung Mon's organization fled Amsterdam
following the Triad leader's death in 1975 as well as those from Hong Kong
during the 1980s.
.
Although warned by officials from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Bureau (later known as the Drug Enforcement Agency) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
through the U.S. Embassy in London; British officials were unprepared to deal with the growing narcotics problem. With the United States becoming aware of the large amounts of heroin being smuggled via the UK, British officials were assisted by a resident officer attached to the US embassy who was assigned to gather intelligence on drug traffickers and identify couriers before eventually infiltrating their organization.
However, the resident officer ran into difficulties while working with English law enforcement concerning his methods, which contrasted sharply with British policy. Among these included his use of paying informants to pose as buyers to purchase narcotics though a federal government slush fund
whereas British criminal informants are not paid except for expenses and are required to sign an official government contract stating they are informants in the employ of the British government.
With the corruption within the Hong Kong police force being dealt with by the Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong (ICAC), many of the city's Triads turned to the UK where a narcotics task force was nonexistent and their existence largely unknown by British officials.
and designer drugs which were smuggled by Triad couriers from The Netherlands and Germany
as they competed with rival European competitors.
Following the signing of the Joint Declaration between the UK and China in 1984, the news of Hong Kong's return to China caused many Triads to flee to Britain, specifically the Wo On Lok and the Sun Yee On
.
These newer Triads were far more organized and professional and, as many of its members were respected and prominent Hong Kong businessmen, they were easily able to use their legitimate businesses as fronts for tax evasion and money laundering. The Wo On Lok soon established themselves in London and Southampton
in England and, maintaining links to similarly exiled groups in Ireland
, France
, the Netherlands and Germany, they engaged in smaller crime such as illegal gambling, counterfeiting, and selling illegally copied
videos, although they also continue extortion activities on Chinese residents.
against six Chinese immigrants who were charged with possession of a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to rival Triad member Lam Ying-kit after a failed attempt on his life on September 7, 1991.
According to testimony by Cheung, he also described his induction ceremony into the Wo On Lok which followed traditional Triad initiation taking place at around 2 am in the basement of the Princess Garden Chinese Restaurant in Greyhound Road, Fulham
. During the ceremony he claimed to have paid his sponsor and dai lo, actor Tang Wai-ming, an initiation fee of £36.60 to operate in the UK. As a result of his testimony, Cheung was given a reduced sentence of five years imprisonment.
14K Triad
The 14K is a Triad group based in Hong Kong but active internationally. It is the second largest Triad group in the world with around 20,000 members split into thirty subgroups. They are the main rival of the Sun Yee On, which is the largest Triad. The 14K are responsible for large-scale drug...
emerging in Chinese communities in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
as early as 1952. A later migration followed as members of Chung Mon's organization fled Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
following the Triad leader's death in 1975 as well as those from Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
during the 1980s.
Early years of Triad activity
Although illegal gambling dens, brothels, opium dens and mahjong schools developed in the 19th century in Chinese communities, it is uncertain when the Triads & Tongs first came over to the UK. The first police were under paid, under-resourced & over stretched. Hence they could not afford to spend too much focus on ways of understanding & detecting Organised Crime.Drug trafficking and cooperation with the United States
It is unclear which Triad was responsible for first importing heroin into the UK, however authorities believe it was originally transported from Hong Kong via Amsterdam by the Ng Sik-ho, and received by either the 14k or the recently arrived Wo Shing WoWo Shing Wo
Wo Shing Wo is the original Wo Group Triad, and it is the triad with longest tradition in Hong Kong.Wo Shing Wo was established in Sham Shui Po in 1930 and, while maintaining its traditional stronghold in Tsuen Wan, it has extended its influence to Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok.It also operates in...
.
Although warned by officials from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Bureau (later known as the Drug Enforcement Agency) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
through the U.S. Embassy in London; British officials were unprepared to deal with the growing narcotics problem. With the United States becoming aware of the large amounts of heroin being smuggled via the UK, British officials were assisted by a resident officer attached to the US embassy who was assigned to gather intelligence on drug traffickers and identify couriers before eventually infiltrating their organization.
However, the resident officer ran into difficulties while working with English law enforcement concerning his methods, which contrasted sharply with British policy. Among these included his use of paying informants to pose as buyers to purchase narcotics though a federal government slush fund
Slush fund
A slush fund, colloquially, is an auxiliary monetary account or a reserve fund. However, in the context of corrupt dealings, such as those by governments or large corporations, a slush fund can have particular connotations of illegality, illegitimacy, or secrecy in regard to the use of this money...
whereas British criminal informants are not paid except for expenses and are required to sign an official government contract stating they are informants in the employ of the British government.
With the corruption within the Hong Kong police force being dealt with by the Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong (ICAC), many of the city's Triads turned to the UK where a narcotics task force was nonexistent and their existence largely unknown by British officials.
Arrival of the Wo On Lok and the Sun Yee On
During the 1980s, the power of the Chinese underworld was constantly shifting from one Triad to another in an attempt to control Britain's drug trafficking trade. Triads soon began expanding into other criminal activities including VAT fraud using innocent loanshark and extortion victims to provide a front business. The Triads also began to turn away from heroin as well instead turning to less serious drugs such as cannabisCannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
and designer drugs which were smuggled by Triad couriers from The Netherlands and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
as they competed with rival European competitors.
Following the signing of the Joint Declaration between the UK and China in 1984, the news of Hong Kong's return to China caused many Triads to flee to Britain, specifically the Wo On Lok and the Sun Yee On
Sun Yee On
Sun Yee On is one of the leading triads in Hong Kong and Mainland China, with the most members – more than 40,000 – worldwide....
.
These newer Triads were far more organized and professional and, as many of its members were respected and prominent Hong Kong businessmen, they were easily able to use their legitimate businesses as fronts for tax evasion and money laundering. The Wo On Lok soon established themselves in London and Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
in England and, maintaining links to similarly exiled groups in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the Netherlands and Germany, they engaged in smaller crime such as illegal gambling, counterfeiting, and selling illegally copied
Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized or prohibited use of works under copyright, infringing the copyright holder's exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works.- "Piracy" :...
videos, although they also continue extortion activities on Chinese residents.
Government prosecution
British authorities finally began to crack down on Triad activity during the early 1990s and, although law enforcement had been battling the Triads for some time, their first insight on the Triad structure and influence in British society came during the 1993 trial of George Cheung Wai-hen, an assassin for the Wo On Lok turned government informant, who testified at the Old BaileyOld Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
against six Chinese immigrants who were charged with possession of a firearm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm to rival Triad member Lam Ying-kit after a failed attempt on his life on September 7, 1991.
According to testimony by Cheung, he also described his induction ceremony into the Wo On Lok which followed traditional Triad initiation taking place at around 2 am in the basement of the Princess Garden Chinese Restaurant in Greyhound Road, Fulham
Fulham
Fulham is an area of southwest London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, SW6 located south west of Charing Cross. It lies on the left bank of the Thames, between Putney and Chelsea. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
. During the ceremony he claimed to have paid his sponsor and dai lo, actor Tang Wai-ming, an initiation fee of £36.60 to operate in the UK. As a result of his testimony, Cheung was given a reduced sentence of five years imprisonment.
Triads active in the United Kingdom
- Wo Shing WoWo Shing WoWo Shing Wo is the original Wo Group Triad, and it is the triad with longest tradition in Hong Kong.Wo Shing Wo was established in Sham Shui Po in 1930 and, while maintaining its traditional stronghold in Tsuen Wan, it has extended its influence to Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok.It also operates in...
- The Wo Shing Wo is considered by authorities to be the largest Triad operating in Britain. Although largely based in Manchester, it also has affiliated groups in Birmingham, Glasgow and London and smaller groups in Bristol, Newcastle, Stoke-on-trent and Cardiff. Although members are recruited in the traditional manner, many members include prominent businessmen who either ally with the organization for their own protection or as full associates participants in their criminal activities. Although they abide by the territorial urban districts of other Triad organizations, often centered around a Chinese cultural club or martial arts associations, they have been involved in extortion activities over wide area as far as TruroTruroTruro is a city and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The city is the centre for administration, leisure and retail in Cornwall, with a population recorded in the 2001 census of 17,431. Truro urban statistical area, which includes parts of surrounding parishes, has a 2001 census...
and Great YarmouthGreat YarmouthGreat Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
.- 14K Triad14K TriadThe 14K is a Triad group based in Hong Kong but active internationally. It is the second largest Triad group in the world with around 20,000 members split into thirty subgroups. They are the main rival of the Sun Yee On, which is the largest Triad. The 14K are responsible for large-scale drug...
- 14K Triad
- Despite its declining power since its first appearance in the early 1950s, the 14k Triad remains the oldest and well established in the underworld as the second largest Triad organization operating in the UK. Based primarily in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and LiverpoolLiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, the 14k continues its traditional activities of loansharking and extortion of Chinese businesses although they have also had a history of targeting other immigrant groups such as Indian and Pakistani running corner shops and small factories (however, West Indians have been more likely to report incidents of harassment and intimidation than their Asian counterparts). Much of the Triads membership is made up of teenagers or illegal Chinese immigrants and there are now confirmed reports of non-Chinese and female members as well.- Sun Yee OnSun Yee OnSun Yee On is one of the leading triads in Hong Kong and Mainland China, with the most members – more than 40,000 – worldwide....
- Sun Yee On
- The Sun Yee On is an influential Triad organization which, like its Hong Kong affiliates, is highly organized criminal syndicate invoved in white-collar crimeWhite-collar crimeWithin the field of criminology, white-collar crime has been defined by Edwin Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" . Sutherland was a proponent of Symbolic Interactionism, and believed that criminal behavior was...
as well as owning legitimate businesses, specifically in the entertainment industry which arrange concerts and theatrical plays from the Orient.