A Chinese national who tried to smuggle nearly 2 billion won worth of drugs by hiding them in a suitcase and disguising them as regular checked luggage has received a final sentence of 15 years in prison.

On the 18th, at the express cargo logistics center inspection site of Incheon Airport Customs in Jung-gu, Incheon, Korea Customs Service staff conduct focused X-ray inspections as detections of illegal pharmaceuticals containing narcotic substances surge. /Courtesy of News1

According to legal sources on the 17th, the Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Kwon Young-jun) finalized the lower court's ruling that sentenced a person identified as A to 15 years in prison on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes for psychotropic drugs.

In Aug. 2024, A was charged with smuggling by retrieving at the Incheon International Airport baggage carousel a carry-on containing about 20 kilograms of methamphetamine (worth 1.989 billion won at street value). A, who entered from Hong Kong at the time, was found to have received drugs sent from Canada, vacuum-sealed in eight transparent plastic bags, during the same time.

During the trial, A denied the charges, arguing that A only picked up the bag at a girlfriend's request and did not recognize that drugs were inside.

However, the first-instance court found A guilty and sentenced A to 13 years in prison. The ruling cited A's prior record of serving separate sentences of four years and 15 years for related crimes while operating as a member of a Hong Kong drug syndicate, and the fact that A used cocaine before entering the country for this crime.

The first-instance court said, "A professional method was used, and there is a record of long-term imprisonment in Hong Kong for drug crimes." However, the fact that all the drugs intended for smuggling were seized and did not actually circulate on the market weighed in favor of sentencing.

Both sides appealed, claiming the sentence was unjust, but the appellate court accepted the prosecution's argument and increased the sentence to 15 years in prison. The appellate court ruled, "Considering the defendant's age, career, character, environment, the motive and circumstances of the crime, the means and result, and the situation after the crime, the sentence handed down by the first-instance court is recognized as unduly lenient."

The Supreme Court likewise found no issue with the appellate court's judgment, dismissed A's appeal, and finalized the ruling.

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