Three people, including a drug importer and courier charged with bringing drugs from Thailand to distribute in Korea, were all sentenced to prison terms on appeal. Of the group, two couriers had previously received a suspended sentence and an acquittal, respectively, in the first trial.
According to the legal community on the 24th, the Seoul High Court's 7th Criminal Division (Presiding Judge Lee Jae-gwon) overturned the lower court and sentenced all three defendants to prison in the second trial on charges including violation of the Act on the Control of Narcotics, etc. (marijuana). The ringleader, A, who imported the drugs and directed the delivery, was sentenced to six years in prison, and the couriers, B and C, were sentenced to four years and five years in prison, respectively.
They are accused of paying a Thai drug dealer to buy drugs and then attempting to distribute the drugs that entered Korea. When the drugs A purchased entered the country, B and C were to collect them and contact a dealer to distribute them, according to reports. Prosecutors, having identified this, posed as dealers to contact the group and arrest them, according to reports.
In the first trial, only A's charges were largely recognized, and the charges against B and C were not. The court said, "A asked C to receive a parcel, and C asked B to receive it instead," and added, "Because A did not tell C that the parcel contained drugs, B and C could not have recognized that the parcel was illegal." The court also said, "A did not pay B and C any money for receiving the parcel," and added, "It cannot be seen that B and C participated in A's crime."
However, it was confirmed during the investigation that B possessed marijuana, and this part was found guilty. As a result, the first-instance court sentenced A to eight years in prison, B to one year and six months in prison with three years of probation, and C to acquittal.
In the second trial, the charges against B and C were recognized. The appellate court said, "A sent C messages such as 'Package the green ones separately' and 'Three 30-milliliter bottles and one 10-milliliter bottle,' and C transported the items without any reply," adding, "If C did not know what the items were, these would be messages he could not understand, yet he did not respond, which shows C knew both what the items were and the gist of the messages." The court continued, "For the same reason, it is reasonable to see that B also knew that the parcel in this case contained drugs."
A, who had denied B and C's involvement, changed stance in the second trial and confessed their criminal acts. According to the appellate ruling, A testified, "After the first trial ended, while being detained for a year, I felt there was no need to keep lying at the risk of eight years in prison." In response, the appellate court said, "Unlike the lower court, in the appeal A acknowledged all of the group's crimes and showed remorse," and sentenced A to six years in prison. That is two years less than in the first trial.