Two Canadian gangsters with big plans for a global narco empire were super careful — they even launched drones to check for police surveillance before meetings — but they still fell for an undercover sting that doomed them all.
The Mob Reporter here with news of the downfall of a multi-national smuggling network spanning five continents — an intricate plot by Canadian, British, and Australian gangsters to move product from Colombia through Panama to Australia and then wash their money clean.
Despite their diligence to avoid detection, it wasn’t enough. Nowhere close. Over 18 months of meeting with their new partner in restaurants and bars in Thailand, Panama, Colombia, Vietnam, and Indonesia, they never realized he was not the gangland gatekeeper he appeared to be. He was an undercover police officer from Australia. By the time they found out it was over.
As they expanded their network, the undercover cop tracked everything. We don’t always get to track the outcome of arrests and seizures announced with a splash by police. But this time we do.
Le and Ho, both now 34 years old, had been friends since they were kids in Vancouver, on Canada’s west coast. Someone who was once a part of their world told me that Le particularly, was born into gangster life. His older brother, in fact, is Minh Tan Le, who still appears on the Wanted list of Canada’s federal police, the RCMP.
Le and Ho were convicted on Jan. 19, 2022, in Melbourne, Australia. They were the last of a dozen accused members of their gang to face the courts. Le was found guilty of two charges of conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs and sentenced to 17 years in prison, with no chance of parole for 12 years. He also forfeited his Honda SUV. Ho was found guilty of the same charges and sentenced to 14 years in prison, with no chance of parole for 10 years and four months.
Canada - MR.
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