An investigation that placed Hong Kong at the centre of a global drug-trafficking and money-laundering network was closed down because of a reluctance by police to pursue a long-term strategy in the battle against dirty money, according to two investigators who led the probe. The Australian Crime Commission-led investigation – which began in 2007 and ended in 2011 – identified a transnational criminal organisation called the Ong Ngoai syndicate, in which senior triad figures in Hong Kong play a key role. The probe – codenamed Operation Dayu – tracked billions of dollars of drug money the syndicate laundered through companies and financial institutions in Hong Kong and Macau, according to Michael Purchas, who led the investigation. Purchas says the desire of police in Hong Kong and Australia for quick, "low-level" prosecutions led to the eventual winding down of the investigation, which could have identified the kingpins of the multibillion-dollar drug trade in the Asia-Pacific
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