Triads in Great Britain

Triads in the United Kingdom first appeared during the post-World War era with the 14K Triad emerging in Chinese communities in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester in England and Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee in Scotland as early as 1952. A later migration followed as members of Chung Mon's organization fled Amsterdam following the Triad leader's death in 1975 as well as those from Hong Kong during the 1980s.

Although illegal gambling dens, brothels, opium dens and mahjong schools developed in the 19th century in Chinese communities, it is uncertain when the triads and tongs first came over to the UK. The first police were underpaid, underresourced and overstretched, hence they could not afford to focus on understanding and detecting organised crime.

It is unclear which Triad was responsible for first importing heroin into the UK; however, authorities believe it was originally transported from Hong Kong via Amsterdam by the Ng Sik-ho, and received by either the 14k or the recently arrived Wo Shing Wo.

Although warned by officials from the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Bureau (later known as the Drug Enforcement Administration) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation through the U.S. Embassy in London; British officials were unprepared to deal with the growing narcotics problem. With the United States becoming aware of the large amounts of heroin being smuggled via the UK, British officials were assisted by a resident officer attached to the US embassy who was assigned to gather intelligence on drug traffickers and identify couriers before eventually infiltrating their organization.

However, the resident officer ran into difficulties while working with English law enforcement concerning his methods, which contrasted sharply with British law enforcement policies.. Among these included his use of paying informants to pose as buyers to purchase narcotics though a federal government slush fund whereas British criminal informants are not paid except for expenses and are required to sign an official government contract stating they are informants in the employ of the British government.

...
Wikipedia