The main culprit in the methamphetamine smuggling case, which weighed only 902 kg and amounted to 3 trillion won, was caught by the prosecution.
It is the largest drug smuggling record in the history of domestic drug smuggling.
The Busan District Prosecutors' Office's Anti-Corruption and Violent Investigation Department announced on the 17th that the team in charge of large-scale drug smuggling had indicted two people, including A (38), an Australian national, for smuggling a large amount of methamphetamine from Mexico.
The amount of methamphetamine smuggled into Korea by these gangs is a whopping 902 kg, equivalent to 90.2 billion won at wholesale price and 3 trillion won based on retail price.
It is more than eight times larger than the previous largest smuggling case of 112 kg methamphetamine in 2018, which is an amount that can be administered to about 30 million people at the same time.
A, an Australian citizen, conspired with an international criminal organization to smuggle 902 kg of methamphetamine in a helical gear (reduction gear part) imported from Mexico twice in December 2019 and July 2020, of which 498 kg were sent to Australia. charged with smuggling.
Prosecutors have obtained key evidence about 498 kg of methamphetamine smuggled into Australia through an Australian investigative agency.
Prosecutors indicted Mr. A for violating the Act on Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (sympathetic) and indicted accomplice B (36) without detention.
Previously, in August last year, the prosecution indicted and indicted Mr. B, who directly carried out smuggling in Korea under the direction of Mr. A.
Mr. B was sentenced to 15 years in prison and a fine of 132 million won in the first trial in January and is currently on appeal trial.
Prosecutors, who were tracking the main culprit, cooperated with the National Intelligence Service and Vietnamese investigative agencies to secure a new recruit who was staying in Vietnam and forcibly repatriated him to Korea, and then arrested and indicted him.
An official from the Busan District Prosecutors' Office said, "It seems that international drug dealers are using Korea as an intermediate distribution base to avoid crackdowns." .