'Refugee' Gangster Kwok Chung Tam loves Canada

Kwok Chung Tam's fraudulent People's Republic of China passport.

Kwok Chung Tam is said to be a man with powerful connections — a kingpin of a Chinese crime cartel so dominant in Canada that police once said it set the price of heroin on the streets across North America. According to allegations made by cops between 1991 and 2014, Tam is a major heroin importer, a chemical drug lab operator and a 'loan shark' with a history of extreme violence. He’s been fighting deportation from Canada for over 25 years. Voluminous records dating back to 1988, outline nearly three decades of crime and Tam’s connections to the Big Circle Boys. Tam is a well-connected member of the crime syndicate — and that cartel is a major player in the Vancouver underworld.

The Big Circle Boys now dominate the trade of fentanyl importation and trafficking in Canada.

In 1991, Tam and other refugee claimants from China were arrested for an armed, violent home-invasion and jewelry-store-robbery cell. Tam was found in possession of 10 stolen Rolex watches, but the case didn't result in charges. Extortion and weapons charges from a 1998 loan-sharking complaint were stayed in 2002 because of undue court delays. In 1999, Tam was charged with conspiracy to import and traffic heroin. He was acquitted after wiretap evidence was ruled inadmissible.

Lai Changxing

In 2006 an RCMP investigation targeted a score of drug houses linked to Tam. He was convicted in 2010 of unlawfully possessing marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and possession of narcotics. He was handed a 15-month conditional sentence, which included house arrest and a weapons ban.