Arrest of Chinese Entrepreneur in Papua New Guinea Highlights Transnational Organized Crime in Meth Smuggling Scheme
Chinese-born Mei Lin is at the center of a transnational crime syndicate, the owner of an international economic empire based out of Papua New Guinea (PNG), and was arrested in Brisbane last month for allegedly facilitating drugs. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that 41-year-old Mei Lin sees herself as a suburban mum, but according to media reports, police believe she plays a central role in a transnational crime syndicate.
A “black flight” is a light aircraft flight that logs false flight planes or no log at all, flies at a very low altitude or turns off its flight monitoring systems to avoid law enforcement or aviation monitoring systems.
Ms. Lin’s Jan. 16 arrest goes back to a methamphetamine smuggling flight on March 21, 2023. The plot was thwarted by Australian and PNG police when the smuggler’s plane stopped to refuel in the Australian heartland town of Monto, Queensland. The plane had originated in Bulolo, PNG.
A joint press release issued on Jan. 17 by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the New South Wales Police Force, the Queensland Police Service, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, and the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary described Ms. Lin as the “seventh person arrested” but didn’t issue a name. Faces were blurred in photos accompanying the release.
Transnational Crime Syndicates
Although the investigation is still ongoing and Ms. Lin denies the allegations against her, the case highlights the issue of transnational organized crime (TOC). The illegal global drug supply chain constitutes 30 percent of the proceeds of overall TOC, according to a 2021 report from the East Asia Forum.
With increased connectivity in the last two decades, drug production and trafficking—especially that of methamphetamine, heroin, and cocaine—is on the rise in the Pacific Island nations and poses one of the primary security threats to the region, according to a 2022 report by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank.
The geographical placement of the island countries along a “maritime corridor utilized for legitimate trade between major economic markets” has converted the region into “a principal trans-shipment hub for drugs,” said report writer Jose Sousa-Santos.
The region is “valuable to Asian organized crime syndicates and Mexican and South American cartels as a transit route and occasional production site, targeting the lucrative markets in Australia and New Zealand where the street value of methamphetamine and cocaine is amongst the highest in the world,” the report notes.
Attempts by The Epoch Times to reach out to Ms. Lin’s contacts did not yield results. Her lawyer did not respond to an email requesting comments, and her office in PNG requested a list of questions but did not respond by press time.
Yujen Kuo is Vice President of Taiwan’s Institute for National Policy Research, and a professor at National Sun Yan-sen University’s Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies. He spoke with The Epoch Times about these global crime syndicates.
Syndicates involving Chinese citizens or people of Chinese origin have been seen in the Middle East, Central Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Pakistan, Mr. Kuo said. Notably, these are areas where China’s geo-economic influence has rapidly increased over the last decade, particularly through BRI.
Prominent in the PNG business community, Ms. Lin has many connections in Lae as well as in the country’s capital, Port Moresby. From Port Moresby, Lae is accessible only by air.
Ms. Lin owns at least a dozen other companies in PNG and Australia, according to OCCRP and Inside PNG. The other businesses haven’t remained untouched by controversies.
In 2021 Lin was involved in a controversy regarding the purchase of houses from PNG’s National Housing Corporation (NHC). The affordable houses, according to PNG law, were to be sold to those of limited means, but Ms. Lin, whose purchase displaced a widowed public servant, argued that they were sold to her because the NHC owed her money.
As Ms. Lin’s case is still in the courts, it’s unclear if Ms. Lin has any connection with Chinese crime syndicates that are increasingly playing a role in smuggling methamphetamine to Australia from the islands.
To observers in the Pacific Island nations and Australia, Ms. Lin’s case will likely become more clear after her March 1 appearance in court. Whatever the outcome, such cases raise concerns and distrust of Chinese intentions in the region.
A spokesperson from Malaita Issues, a small media outlet in Malaita province, in the neighboring Solomon Islands, told The Epoch Times by text, “This type of news would definitely create a certain level of distrust within the Solomon Islands towards the Chinese business individuals who have established themselves … but may have practiced such activities without [catching] the attention of the police and public.”
