China criminal connection emerges in Irish 'Wobbly Boots' case

When Irish gangster Paul Meehan was jailed three years ago for smuggling cigarettes and conspiracy to acquire drugs and guns, his conviction was hailed as a huge success for police in the UK and Northern Ireland.

Called 'Wobbly Boots' for his dependence on crutches ever since he crashed a stolen car, Meehan, 39, had previous convictions in the Republic of Ireland for crimes including violent disorder and "assault causing serious harm".

Also nicknamed Dr Coke by one Irish tabloid for fuelling the cocaine boom during the heady Celtic Tiger years, he played a key role in the organised gangs that have wreaked havoc in Dublin in recent years.

Meehan's international criminal organisation extended all the way to southern China, a Financial Times investigation has established. Although the detail was never revealed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, one of the force's most celebrated gun and drug seizures of recent years began as an investigation into Chinese counterfeit factories.

The FT has also learned that a Hong Kong private investigator who assisted in the hunt for Meehan remains in a Chinese prison, after initial efforts by the PSNI to secure his release failed.

The plight of Danny Tsang Chi-fai, 53, highlights the dangerous work done in China by private investigators, many of them with UK links. Mr Tsang, a 20-year veteran of the Royal Hong Kong Police force, entered the investigations industry shortly after the former UK colony reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

In July 2013, Peter Humphrey, a private investigator and UK citizen, was detained by police in Shanghai. On the eve of a long-delayed visit to China by David Cameron, UK prime minister, Mr Humphrey and his wife, a naturalised US citizen, remain in custody without charge.

According to documents seen by the Financial Times, the 2008 PSNI investigation was code-named "Eclat" and cracked a criminal enterprise that dealt in counterfeit cigarettes, weapons and narcotics. The PSNI were helped by Mr Tsang, who is now serving a 10-year prison sentence in southern China after an apparent mix-up with local police.

The China connection highlights the global reach of cigarette-smuggling rackets. Customs officials say one in seven cigarettes smoked in Ireland - and one in 10 in the UK - are illicit, costing the two countries €2.5bn in lost taxes in 2011. The EU estimates that the illegal tobacco trade costs the bloc €10bn a year.

The counterfeit cigarettes Meehan imported came from Fujian province in southern China. As Operation Eclat unfolded, Mr Tsang was working for a small Hong Kong investigation firm that took on contract assignments from large multinational companies such as Japan Tobacco International.

When Meehan visited southern China in 2007, JTI executives informed the PSNI which then set up Operation Eclat. "My father did many private investigations in China and Thailand," Mr Tsang's son Pakko told the FT. "He often worked undercover, approaching the bad guys as a buyer so he could find out where their counterfeit factories were. Sometimes he would take a bag with a hidden camera."

For Operation Eclat, Mr Tsang posed as the head of a Chinese counterfeit cigarette factory while an undercover UK officer acted as middleman. The PSNI was thus able to fool Meehan, who thought he was dealing with a real counterfeit cigarette ring.

In the summer of 2008, Meehan and his associates were caught in a trilateral sting by UK, Irish and Dutch authorities that led to the seizure of more than 250 handguns, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, three hand grenades, 14kg of heroin and 5kg of cannabis.

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At the time of his arrest, Meehan was carrying more than €146,000 in cash, with which he had intended to purchase counterfeit cigarettes. He later pleaded guilty to ten counts including conspiracy to possess weapons and drugs and evade duty on imported cigarettes. When the Crown Court in Northern Ireland handed Meehan a 21-year prison sentence in June 2010, Mr Justice Stephens found that he had "played a significant and integral role in dealing at the highest scale of organised criminals".

Back in China, however, Operation Eclat had gone badly wrong for Mr Tsang. Chinese police had seized a shipment of counterfeit cigarettes bound for Northern Ireland as part of Operation Eclat and arrested Mr Tsang. "For a long time we didn't know why my father had been arrested. He just disappeared," said Pakko.

The PSNI initially tried to help Mr Tsang, according to emails seen by the FT. Between January and July 2009, PSNI officers repeatedly told JTI executives that they had lobbied on his behalf. "[M]eetings have been arranged in London next Thurs[day] at the Chinese Embassy and at the UK Home office," one officer wrote. "We will again make the case for Danny and confirm to the Chinese that they can travel to the UK to interview Meehan. We hope that this will persuade the Chinese to again reconsider Danny's detention."

It is not clear what efforts, if any, PSNI made on Mr Tsang's behalf after that. "Criminal proceedings as a result of Operation Eclat have concluded in Northern Ireland," the PSNI told the FT earlier this week. "The Police Service of Northern Ireland does not comment on named individuals."

The Home Office declined to comment, saying that questions should be directed to the PSNI. The Chinese embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement to the FT, JTI confirmed that Mr Tsang was identified as someone who could help the PSNI on Operation Eclat.

"PSNI undertook to inform the Chinese authorities [about Operation Eclat] . . . and to secure Chinese approval," JTI added. "We simply do not know what, if anything, transpired between the authorities of Northern Ireland and China that would have led to [Mr Tsang's] arrest."

In December 2010, six months after Meehan's conviction in Belfast, the Zhangzhou Intermediate People's Court in Fujian sentenced Mr Tsang to ten years in prison for offences related to counterfeit cigarettes. The Chinese court rejected his defence that he had been involved in a PSNI operation.

"Hong Kong and China are different," Pakko said. "As a Hong Kong police officer, I have to prove what you did and you don't have to say anything. China is not like that. In China, my father has to prove that he is innocent."

Additional reporting by Jamie Smyth in Dublin

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