BAIL UPHELD FOR 'SYNDICATE BOSS'

A businessman granted bail in Auckland on heroin charges is said to have
been a violent crime boss in a syndicate that shipped drugs from Thailand
to the United States, Australia and Europe.

New details of the alleged drug ring emerged in the High Court at Auckland
yesterday as the US failed in its bid to have 37-year-old Hing Hung Wong
sent back to jail pending his extradition hearing.

Justice Morris said, while giving his decision to let Wong stay on bail,
that he was allegedly "one of the leaders of a sophisticated organisation
which brokered shipments from Thailand to other parts of the world."

But he said district court judge Robert Kerr had been "meticulous" when
granting Wong bail on his second attempt, and there was no reason to quash
that decision.

Wong is wanted in the US on three charges of distributing and possessing at
least 1kg of heroin at a time between 1985 and 1995.

Judge Kerr granted him bail last Thursday on some of the harshest terms
seen in New Zealand. He must live in a secret apartment, guarded day and
night by security officers he has paid for. He is allowed no cellphone or
Internet access, must wear a security anklet, pay a $200,000 bond, provide
a list of anyone he wants to phone overseas, and supply a map of all
windows, doors and lifts in his building.

But counsel for the US, Christine Gordon, said yesterday that Wong had a
"history of previous violence when his organisation has been threatened"
and there was a risk he could escape.

She said Wong had fled Hong Kong on a fake passport and had given false
details to immigration officers when coming to New Zealand.

She urged the court to overturn the bail because the guards could be
overpowered or bribed, part of Wong's building had been used as a brothel,
and a man using the building had been linked with fake passports.

Justice Morris said: "I find it hard to imagine a group of Chinese
descending on a flat in Auckland and absconding. Even the French couldn't
do that with the Rainbow Warrior.

"If an armed gang overpowered our loyal Chubb employees, the police would
know immediately."

But the judge agreed that the Chubb guards should be vetted by police and
Wong allowed to visit a gymnasium in his building only if his radio anklet
were modified so it would not have to be switched off.

Wong's lawyer, John Haigh, QC, said his client's friends would pay to make
the anklet work in the gym.

Justice Morris rejected Mr Haigh's bid for court costs.