Sydney stabbings: alleged triad members held

Mar 25, 2008, SMH:

Two alleged members of a new Sydney triad gang preying on overseas Asian tourists have been refused bail, charged with the stabbing murder of a Korean student.

The men, Chinese nationals Ivan Wong and Michael Lee, both 18-year-old students from Carlingford, are charged with the murder of Joon Yup Lee at 1am last Thursday.

The victim died during a running street fight that began in the Liverpool Street Hungry Jack's restaurant and spilled into the adjoining World Square complex.

The pair are also charged with wounding with intent to murder Korean student Jung Ho Song, 20, who was stabbed ...

Both Wong and Lee are alleged to be members of the Yee Tong triad style gang whom police allege have been preying on fellow foreign students in a stand-over extortion racket ...
Triad linked to student's murder:
The Herald has learned that the deportation request, on the grounds of student visa violations, was made the day before last Thursday's fatal stabbing of the 19-year-old brother of the prominent South Korean actor Lee Dong-gun.

Concerned members of the NSW Asian Crime Squad are understood to have met Department of Immigration officials to detail the activities of the gang that calls itself "Yee Tong". While police have yet to establish how many members the gang has, those identified to date are from mainland China and many are on study visas.

Yee Tong, whose members are in their late teens to early 20s, emerged in the Sydney CBD in the past year amid rising night-time violence in and around the World Square business and residential complex.

Police intelligence suggests Yee Tong has laid claim to the World Square complex, bounded by George, Liverpool, Goulburn and Pitt streets, as their turf against the long entrenched rival Big Circle- and Sing Wai-stylised Hong Kong Triad gangs in nearby Chinatown.

Five years ago, the Big Circle and Sing Wa gangs were involved in a series of violent clashes over protection rackets.
Celebrations from Asian Sydney 'hubs'.

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