Operation Clinker

Rod Mason

Description

'Operation Clinker' was the operational name given to this true account told from the perspective of the principal undercover agent, an inspector in Royal Hong Kong Police Narcotics Bureau, in what transpired to be a record attempt to export heroin from Hong Kong to Australia in 1988.The author was recruited to form part of the crew for a voyage from Hong Kong to Australia. Covert surveillance observed the loading of a heavy bag aboard and the yacht set sail. Out of sight of any land-based observers, the undercover agents 'mutinied' and overpowered the targets to take control and search the yacht, seizing 43.5kg of pure heroin.The arrested targets turned Queen's evidence in exchange for a potential reduction in sentence upon conviction. Flown to Sydney with a consignment of 'fake' heroin, they delivered to the distribution syndicate. Australian Federal Police surveillance were able to monitor the handover and identify personalities involved.International joint police raids took place in Hong Kong and Sydney, leading to the arrest of the entire syndicate from triad supply to shipping crew and distribution.

Sujets

• True crime

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 30 novembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528980937
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

Operation Clinker
Heroin Smuggling
Rod Mason
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-11-30
Operation Clinker About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgment Chapter 1 Heroin Chapter 2 Hong Kong Historical Drug Haven Chapter 3 Joining the Force Chapter 4 The Power of the Force Chapter 5 The Force Is Strong Chapter 6 Undercover Chapter 7 Operation Clinker Chapter 8 Sailing Chapter 9 Recruitment Chapter 10 The Good Ship ‘ Oui ’ Chapter 11 Hong Kong Transit Chapter 12 Departure Chapter 13 Interception Chapter 14 Seizure Chapter 15 After Action Chapter 16 Overt Action Chapter 17 Conviction and Sentencing Chapter 18 Awards and Commendations Illustrations & Media Media Reports
About the Author
Born in Hong Kong, the author attended a Scottish boarding school and then Glasgow Nautical College, where he secured qualification as a navigator. He became an inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Police in 1983 and soon moved to the Narcotics Bureau, conducting several undercover operations and securing four commendations before promotion to chief inspector. In 1997, he took over Kowloon West ‘999’ emergency response as superintendent, then became a marine divisional commander followed by anti-smuggling task force commanding high-speed offshore interceptors. Retired in 2016 after 32 years of distinguished service, he is divorced with four kids, including triplets, and lives in Central Scotland.
Dedication
Dedicated to Kiki, Robbie, Jamie and Jenny, whom I can never thank enough for all the smiles.
Copyright Information ©
Rod Mason (2020)
The right of Rod Mason to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The story, experiences, and words are the author’s alone.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528980920 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528980937 (ePub e book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgement
My sincere thanks to Pamela Bell for all her artistic contribution and never-ending encouragement.
‘Operation Clinker’ happened in 1988, so the details are no longer classified. This narrative is based upon my observations, records made in my operational diary, statement for the prosecution prepared once the operation concluded and my memory. Some of the names have been changed to protect the innocent, and some of the facts may have been eroded by time, but the story is true to the best of my knowledge and belief. It is representative of the esprit de corps and genuine endeavour of the right people to do the right thing, for the right reasons.
Rod Mason
Principal Undercover Agent
‘Operation Clinker’
Chapter 1

Heroin
On 11 th November, 1988, ‘ Asiaweek ’, a Time Inc. publication in Hong Kong, published an article titled ‘ The Chinese Link ’ detailing the departure of the yacht ‘ Oui ’ from Hong Kong destined for Sydney, Australia. Onboard 43 Kilograms of pure Thai heroin had been concealed in the freshwater tanks. Undercover police officers had managed to be selected as crew for the journey. The article went on to state that the undercover agents overpowered the smugglers off Po Toi Island within Hong Kong waters and were intercepted by the Marine Police. Those arrested were:
“… ‘persuaded’ to continue… this time by air, and make their delivery… Hong Kong and Sydney Police arrested 30 ethnic Asians in the largest joint Hong Kong – Australia narcotics ‘sting’ ever.”
The Asiaweek article from which the above quote was extracted, reported that according to US Federal Authorities, in a change of modus operandi , the old ‘ French Connection ’ had been replaced by the new ‘ Chinese Connection ’. The French connection had related to the shipment of opium produced from Turkish poppies from Marseilles on to New York – made famous in William Friedkin’s classic film of that name. Based on a true story, starring Gene Hackman as Detective Jimmy ‘Popeye’ Doyle , a driven New York cop who wears a ‘pork pie’ hat that makes him look like a jazz musician, Popeye’s intuitive street sense allows him to suss out what is going on behind the scenes in a huge heroin import to New York City.
The new ‘Chinese Connection’ updates both the source and ethnic background of those involved. High-grade heroin sourced in the Golden Triangle, the area where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (formerly Burma) meet, is conveyed overland through Yunnan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces in southern China, to reach Hong Kong to utilise international transportation links to tranship to the streets of New York or Sydney.

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Figure 1: Golden Triangle heroin supply route to Hong Kong.
The relatively short distance from the Golden Triangle production area to the porous Chinese border is only about 200 kilometres and attractive from a transportation perspective. Crossing this border, which has only cursory immigration and customs controls, is relatively easy.
Once inside China, a cargo can be loaded onto pretty much any vehicle and conveyed to Guangdong province to face Hong Kong’s far more advanced cargo checking systems. A wide variety of differing methods are employed to manage this last critical part of the journey. These include concealment amongst legitimate cargo in cross border road transportation; conventional maritime transhipment; concealment on the bodies of human ‘Mules’; and maritime smuggling using high powered, illegal speedboats, to attempt to evade detection.
In 1996, the Embassy of the USA in Rangoon, Myanmar, released a ‘Country Commercial Guide’, which stated,
“ Exports of opiates alone appear to be worth about as much as all legal exports .”
By the end of 1987, ethnic Chinese were said to control 70% of New York’s heroin trade. In the United States, it was estimated that about 1.6% of the population have used heroin at some point in time. The same year, an Australian Federal Police spokesman stated that he believed that 90% of all heroin imported to Australia between 1982 and 1988 had been organised by ethnic Chinese syndicates. He reported that from 1981 to 1987 they had seized more than 100kg of the drug – approximately 16kg per annum.
When people die from a ‘recreational’ drug overdose, the drug is usually an opioid. Heroin, also known as diamorphine, is an opioid most commonly used for its euphoric effects. As stated, it is produced from the opium poppy, a flower originally found in parts of Asia and grown and processed in many places, including the Golden Triangle, which has, since the 1950s been one of the most extensive opium-producing areas of Asia and the world.
According to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the poppy is best grown in dry, warm climates, as too much moisture can affect the chemical content of the sap, making a lower quality opium, from which heroin is made. The Asian climate is considered most suitable, not only for the poppy growth, but also with respect to the refining process. It is for this reason that production occurs throughout much of Central Asia and drier regions of the Middle East. Poppies, however, are also grown in Colombia and Mexico, but the majority of the world’s heroin was produced in the Golden Triangle until the early 21st century, when Afghanistan took over and became the largest source of supply.
Improvements in the chemical process to refine raw opium into heroin and the enormous profits achievable when sold at street level, continuously combine to ensure that production remains significantly profitable. Heroin, typically a white or brown powder, is usually injected intravenously commonly known as ‘ shooting up ’, or ‘ mainlining ’, which is believed to have two to three times the effect of a similar dose of morphine.
Preparation of heroin for injection utilising a syringe and a hypodermic needle, requires the powder to be dissolved in water and mixed with an acid (most commonly, citric acid powder or lemon juice) and heated to make a solution suitable for injecting. Heroin in hydrochloride salt form, requires just water (and no heat) to dissolve. Users tend to initially inject into the easily accessible arm veins, but these veins collapse over time as a consequence of excessive puncture wounds, so users are forced to resort to more dangerous areas of the body, such as the femoral vein in the groin. A choice such as this, can often develop deep vein thrombosis as a complication.
The dose of heroin used for recreational purposes is dependent on the user’s requirements including frequency and level of addiction. A first-time user may be satisfied by a dose of between 5 and 20 mg, while an established addict may want and require several hundred mg per day to satisfy their ‘habit’. As with the injection of any drug, if a group of users share a syringe and needle, in the absence of any sterilisation procedures, blood-borne diseases, such as HIV, AIDS or hepatitis, can be transmitted.
Heroin powder can also be smoked and inhaled – in Hong Kong this style known as ‘ Chasing the Dragon ’ is extremely popular. The abuser generally holds a piece of tin foil containing heroin powder over a candle moving it slowly back and forth to heat the heroin, until smoke is produced. He has a matchbox sleeve in his mouth to prevent his lips from sealing and inhales the smoke chasing it as it rises. The simplicity of the required equipment allowed this style of inhalation long before hypodermic needle