Triad was a big problem back in the 1950s through to the 1970s for the Singapore government. Many groups – big or small – were formed to seize on the vulnerable fishing ‘village’ that had steadily grown to a prosperous little nation to what it is today. Back then, many innocent people died trying to protect their businesses from these power-hungry and incorrigible triads, along – too – were many dedicated police officers. The only way to eradicate these gangs with their illicit activities was to have a law – a very strict law. Heavy punishments were meted out to those who went against it. It worked through time. And, many of these perpetuators were put behind bars for a very long period of time or completely eradicated from the face of this Earth by hanging. But, during this time, a group who called themselves Ah Kong was formed but was only based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Bangkok, Thailand – perhaps to avoid the strict laws in their birth country. Ah Kong was an organized crime gang that was involved in its main trade of drugs. Ah Kong was such a fearsome triad that was renown all over Asia and Europe.
Ah Kong was based in Amsterdam and Bangkok but had operations in other European cities and the Asia-Pacific. It used to control the European heroin trade in the 1970s to 1990s. Ah Kong which means 'The Company' or short for kongsi (in Hokkien dialect) had never been based in Singapore. It was also known to have had Malaysian Chinese members and had Thai and Indonesian connections, and over the years they had built strong ties with the infamous Penang-based Sio Sam Ong. Most of the members of Ah Kong were Singaporeans and the members spoke Hokkien although they were originally Hainanese from a village in the Sembawang area and were European- and Thailand-based. It was formed when several members or See Tong (which means buddies or a group of close friends but mostly blood-brothers) killed or injured members of their rival gang, Pek Kim Leng (White Golden Dragon), in a gang clash, and escaped to Holland. While in the Netherlands, the notorious gang received more members joining them. These new members had had military training that was acquired while doing their rigorous National Service stint.
