By 1983 a number of DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) documents were postulating the existence of an "underground banking system" dominated by Chinese in Southeast Asia. The intelligence community believes that most of heroin money is handled within Asia by the Chinese underground banking system. Operated by money changers, gold shops, and trading companies, the underground banking system is linked by kinship ties to the Chinese-dominated heroin production business and to an intricate web of other Chinese commercial interests. The recordkeeping procedures of the underground banking system are nearly nonexistent, with coded messages, "chits," and telephone calls used to transfer money from one country to another. The system has the ability to transfer funds from one country to another in a matter of hours, provide anonymity for the customer, provide total security, convert gold or other items into currency, and convert one currency into another of the customer's choice. This culturally based means of financial transaction requires that the investigator first gain an understanding of traditional Chinese financial practices and then apply what is known of the internal dynamics of the criminal enterprise under investigation, after which resulting hypotheses may be tested by conventional methods. 16 references