Jung Il-hoon, a former member of the idol group BTOB, who was handed over to trial for inhaling marijuana several times, was arrested in the first trial.
Chief Judge Yang Cheol-han of the 22nd Criminal Settlement of the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Jung to two years in prison for violating the Narcotics Control Act and ordered a fine of 133 million won.
Jung, who was being tried without detention, was arrested in court as he was sentenced to prison.
The seven accomplices brought to trial along with Jung were sentenced to 1 year and 6 months to 2 years in prison or 1 year in prison and 3 years of probation depending on the number of purchases and inhalation of marijuana.
The court pointed out that "the defendants used sophisticated crime techniques such as communicating with each other in the dark web area to make it difficult to detect crimes, and trading using bitcoin, a virtual currency, as payment."
Jung was handed over to trial last April on charges of buying and inhaling cannabis worth 133 million won a total of 161 times from July 2016 to January 2019.
Prosecutors demanded a sentence of four years in prison and an additional 133 million won for Jung, and Jung admitted the charges and appealed for leniency.
(Photo = Yonhap News)