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.They are also charged with assaulting Sui Yoon, who was with Mr Song and Mr Lee.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.Wong appeared before Central Local Court magistrate Allan Moore in a videolink from Silverwater jail remand centre while Lee refused to appear on camera.During Wong's brief appearance police alleged that they had 24 CDs of security camera footage of the fight from surveillance cameras in the street and inside the World Square complex.Both men, who did not apply for bail, were formally refused bail and ordered to reappear before the court on May 6.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 Wai gangs were involved in a series of violent clashes over protection rackets.
Yee Tong came to the attention of police investigating a number of brawls and knife fights in and around World Square in the past year. The gang is believed to prey on Asian students by extorting cash. It is also suspected of break-ins.
It has been at a least a decade since police last saw the emergence of an organised Triad-style gang in Sydney. The last was a gang called the "108 White Tigers" that evolved from the remnants of the 1990s' violent south-west Cabramatta Vietnamese gang, 5T.Like Yee Tong, the 108 White Tigers preyed on overseas students in an extortion racket around the then unfinished World Square complex and the George Street cinema strip.
The 108 White Tigers, whose activities were broken up by police in a two-year operation beginning in 1998, also carried out home invasions on students' accommodation in the inner city and were involved in kidnappings and ransom demands.
Their targets were English-language students on two-year visas studying in the city, who were kidnapped or waylaid in the street and forced to disclose their bank cards and PINs.
Police have yet to establish a motive for last week's attack, which began inside the Hungry Jack's restaurant in George Street with what appeared to be an argument between two groups.
The row continued across the road and into the World Square complex. The victim was stabbed several times and died in hospital.
A 20-year-old male Korean student who was with him survived a stab wound to the upper body.