Police arrested Vietnamese individuals and Korean operators distributing drugs at entertainment establishments in the metropolitan area through undercover investigations.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Drug Crime Investigation Unit stated on the 27th that it has sent 41 individuals, including 19 people involved in drug distribution at entertainment establishments in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon, as well as buyers, to the prosecution on charges of violating the Drug Control Act. Among them, 15 individuals have been detained.
Among those arrested, 30 were Vietnamese. There were also four individuals who were Vietnamese but had naturalized as South Korean citizens. The police noted that the Vietnamese individuals who were caught came to Korea for reasons such as marriage or employment but were lured into crime by the temptation of "easily earning money."
Twenty distributors are accused of selling drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy at entertainment establishments in Incheon from October 2023 to August last year. A Vietnamese national, referred to as A, who is suspected of being the mastermind, has currently fled to Vietnam. The police have requested an INTERPOL red notice for A.
According to the police, they delivered drugs to entertainment establishments in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, and karaoke bars in Seo-gu, Incheon. The owners of these establishments avoided crackdowns by selling drugs to customers while only taking reservations by phone or operating secret rooms for drug use. To evade law enforcement, they hid drugs in electric rice cookers in the establishment's storage. Not only were two operators caught, but also 21 individuals who purchased and used drugs at the establishments were apprehended.
The police began an investigation after receiving information that a bar owner in Gyeyang-gu was selling drugs to customers. In May last year, an investigator, who pretended to be a customer, arrested the bar manager in the act of trying to sell ketamine. Following this, based on the bar owner's statement that they purchased drugs from a Vietnamese woman, the police conducted a communications investigation and analyzed closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage from the transaction site, eventually apprehending distributors, related entertainment establishment owners, and users.
During the investigation, the police seized 207 grams of ketamine, 1,246 ecstasy tablets, and 20 milliliters of synthetic marijuana. They also received a pre-trial confiscation order for a total of 64.4 million won, including cash of 24.59 million won and the suspects' deposits.