The Last Voyage of the Pong Su · The Age and Sydney Morning Herald

The double agent

April 25, 2021·19 min·1 clip

A double agent showed police a mobile phone video of a brutal execution to prove how serious the drug syndicate was about eliminating betrayers.

This special episode reveals the previously untold origin story of Australia's biggest drug bust - the Pong Su case. In 2003, an anonymous phone call to Australian Federal Police in Thailand set in motion the investigation that would intercept $100 million worth of heroin. The caller was a double agent embedded within an international crime syndicate working with North Korea. Former AFP Thailand Senior Liaison Officer Rod Curtis and Major General Surajit Damdamarong of the Royal Thai Police speak publicly for the first time about handling this dangerous source. The source was connected to a powerful drug kingpin with criminal, political and military connections throughout Southeast Asia, who operated semi-legal casinos in Cambodia to cement corrupt relationships. To prove the syndicate's ruthlessness, the source showed police a mobile phone video of an execution - a suspected betrayer being shot while sitting in his car in Myanmar. The source provided crucial intelligence including the name of the ship (MV Pong Su) and identities of syndicate members sent to Australia. This information allowed police to surveil Malaysian operative Kiam Farteng at Melbourne's Crown Casino and plant listening devices in his van. The intercepted conversations revealed when and how the drugs would be brought ashore, enabling police to be positioned in Lorne at the right time for the dramatic arrest. Rod and the General had to carefully manage the source's expectations and requests for payment, with the Australian government ultimately compensating him for the intelligence. The source was reportedly surprised by the cost of destroying the Pong Su with laser-guided bombs compared to his modest payment. Installing electronic surveillance in the drug kingpin's Bangkok apartment provided additional intelligence about the operation. The source's information was vital to Operation Sorbet's success, allowing police to track the syndicate members and understand their coded communications about the heroin shipment. Even 18 years later, both Rod and the General remain committed to protecting the source's identity, knowing he faces ongoing danger from the crime syndicate. The General confirms the source is still alive and safe, particularly as long as he remains undisturbed by law enforcement. This revelation fills a crucial gap in the Pong Su story, showing how human intelligence gathering in Southeast Asia's complex criminal underworld made the operation possible.

As heard by us

A procedural crime chapter that turns a warning call into a tightly observed police operation.

A human source close to the center of an international crime syndicate sets this chapter in motion, and the story follows the phone call into surveillance work in Bangkok and Melbourne.

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Why you'd press play

Follow the phone call that put the AFP onto a human source, a heroin shipment headed for Melbourne, and the motor vessel Pongsu.

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