Alleged ‘fugitive drug lord’ travelled in plane sight: AFP failed to notify Interpol in ‘search’ for kingpin

An alleged “fugitive” drug lord accused of masterminding a vast global cocaine pipeline roamed the world unchallenged for seven years, crossing 180 international borders and visiting 20 countries, because the Australian authorities failed to take the most basic steps to arrest him, a US court has heard.

Lawyers for the alleged fugitive, Bao Tu Luu, told an extradition hearing Mr Luu never hid from anyone, let alone the authorities, travelling as a public figure in World Boxing under his own name and using his own photo and passport.

Instead, Australian authorities have been accused of a “complete lack of rudimentary diligence” in chasing the 50-year-old they now claim is a drug-trafficking kingpin.

Documents filed by Defence Attorney Lawrence Schoenbach contained accusations the Australian Federal Police made “palpably false” statements about why they failed to alert Interpol, and they allowed the case to deteriorate through years of inaction — irreparably damaging Mr Luu’s chance to defend himself.

It was also revealed the AFP waited until 2019, two years after the seizure of the drugs Mr Luu is accused of conspiring to traffic, before issuing a warrant for Mr Luu’s arrest.

And even then, it is claimed the AFP took no meaningful action: no Red Notice request, not even a basic email to Interpol.

“During the intervening eight years, records have been lost or destroyed, devices are inaccessible, witnesses unavailable, and memories have faded,” it was argued in a Writ of Habeas Corpus asking for a stay of the extradition proceedings against Mr Luu.

“A precise chronology and evidence simply cannot be reconstructed nearly a decade later,” the document said.

Allegedly known by the underworld alias “Big Brother”, Mr Luu was arrested in the US last year and is now fighting extradition to Australia where he would face a charge of conspiracy to traffic cocaine, after a covert sting operation.

That sting involved undercover officers posing as corrupt dock workers at the Port of Melbourne and led to five other men being convicted and jailed for a combined 60 years. Mr Luu was not in Australia at the time of the bust and subsequent arrests.

AFP documents filed in the US District Court allege Mr Luu ran a sophisticated narco-trafficking network with connections to corrupt officials in Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia and Peru.

Unsealed documents read “like a movie script”: clandestine meetings in steam rooms in Asia, encrypted communications, and online monikers like #ShutTheFuckUp and #SlaughterNine used to chat with undercover officers codenamed Unicorn and Wisdom.

Police say they have more than 1000 images, messages and recordings — including photos of cocaine bricks, container details, and maps marking precisely where the drugs would be hidden.

It is not suggested that the allegations against Mr Luu are true, only that they have been made in documents filed in the US court in support of an extradition application to bring him to Australia.

But according to submissions filed by Mr Schoenbach, Mr Luu never attempted to flee from authorities or even hide at all.

Documents filed in the court reveal Mr Luu moved openly on his own passport as president of the Vietnam Boxing Federation, president of the Ho Chi Minh City Mixed Martial Arts Federation, and executive director of the Saigon Sports Club.

In 2023 he was even awarded an honorary World Boxing Association Asia belt for his contributions to the sport, travelling widely as a public figure.

Court documents outline a list of errors and contradictions in AFP documents including wrong dates for the alleged offences, including the “palpably false” excuse by the AFP that they could not act because “Vietnam does not extradite its nationals”.

This was dismissed as flatly untrue and contradicted by the still-in-force extradition treaty between the two nations.

Despite AFP claims that Mr Luu “predominantly remained in Ho Chi Minh City”, court filings show he crossed borders 180 times, visiting at least 20 countries, some multiple times, with at least half of those countries having extradition treaties with Australia.

Among the countries visited are Thailand, the UAE, Spain, Colombia, France, Turkey, Singapore, Indonesia, the Maldives, the Netherlands, Japan, the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Macau and the United States. He even renewed a US driver’s licence in person in 2021.

It is claimed that none of Mr Luu’s journeys were ever covert and he always used his own name and photograph as evidenced by his passport.

The writ claims the “Government of Australia” chose to forego traditional means of apprehending persons who travel internationally.

It is customary for countries seeking a fugitive to file an Interpol Red Notice, which would have placed Mr Luu’s name on “lookout lists” in hundreds of countries.

“Certainly, if Australia was engaged in ‘forum shopping’ waiting until Mr Luu was located in a jurisdiction for which the prospects of extradition were favourable a reasonable inference from the record — that would not provide a valid excuse for the eight and one half year delay that occurred here solely due to Australia’s lack of even rudimentary diligence in pursuing its prosecution against Mr Luu,” it was stated in the writ.

Mr Luu immigrated to the US after a “harrowing” months-long ocean journey as a child, grew up in California and has lived openly in Vietnam for years.

He has been married for 27 years and is the father of five children. It was a visit to the US last year to visit his terminally ill oldest son while he was in hospice, and then ultimately attend his funeral, that led to Mr Luu’s arrest.

His lawyers say Australia’s “protracted, unreasonable and inexcusable” eight-year delay severely prejudiced his ability to defend himself and smacked of potential forum shopping.