TWO COUNTRIES VIE FOR EXTRADITION OF HEROIN SUSPECT

Hong Kong drug-busters are fighting to extradite an Auckland businessman
who already faces serious heroin charges in the United States.

Two policemen from the Auckland police Asian Crime Unit yesterday went to
the secret city apartment where 37-year-old Hing Hung Wong is living and
took him to the Auckland District Court.

They were acting on an arrest warrant issued on Wednesday at the request of
Justice Minister Phil Goff after Hong Kong police claimed Wong had fled
from their city to Thailand while facing two drug trafficking charges.

The charges relate to two packages of white powder allegedly found in
Wong's taxi and bedroom in the 1980s.

Wong has been living in the Auckland apartment under some of the harshest
bail terms imposed in New Zealand, after US detectives claimed that he
masterminded one of the biggest heroin shipments they have ever seized.

The US has charged him with three counts of possessing and distributing at
least 1kg of heroin at a time in Thailand, Hong Kong and New York over the
past 15 years.

Lawyers rushed to the court yesterday afternoon to argue over whether Wong
should be sent to jail or allowed back to the apartment on the new charges.

The lawyer for the United States Government, Christine Gordon, said bail
should be quashed because the new charges could tempt Wong to escape, and
the body corporate that ran his apartment building wanted him kicked out.

She presented a signed statement from the body saying that residents were
"extremely unsettled" at having Wong living in their building.

"The situation is now more serious because two countries are seeking the
return of Mr Wong," she said.

But defence lawyer John Haigh, QC, said Wong had observed all his bail
conditions "in spite of all the fears being driven by the US." The new Hong
Kong charges made little difference because the quantities of drugs
involved were much smaller.

Judge Robert Kerr said he sympathised with residents but efforts by their
body corporate to get rid of Wong bordered on contempt of court. He granted
Wong bail on the same conditions as the ones he imposed for the US
extradition hearing, except he will no longer be allowed to use a gym in
the building.

Wong had already paid a $200,000 bond, a further $100,000 for a radio
anklet and two guards to watch him 24 hours a day, agreed he would not use
a cellphone or the Internet, supplied a plan of his building and let police
tap his phone.

The US extradition hearing starts on Monday. Depending on the result Wong
could face another extradition hearing presented by Hong Kong authorities.