Police plan to seek an arrest warrant on the 25th for Hwang Hana, 37, the granddaughter of the founder of Namyang Dairy Products, who fled overseas while facing allegations of drug use and was recently arrested.
The Gwacheon Police Station in Gyeonggi Province said it plans to request an arrest warrant during the day for Hwang, who was arrested on suspicion of violating the Act on the Control of Narcotics. A pretrial detention hearing is expected as early as on the 26th. Hwang is currently being held in a police detention cell.
Hwang is suspected of injecting methamphetamine into two people, including an acquaintance, in Seoul's Gangnam in July 2023. Police also plan to investigate how Hwang obtained the drugs and the distribution channel. They also plan to look into whether Hwang committed any illegal acts while staying overseas.
Earlier, while under police investigation on suspicion of drug use, Hwang fled to Thailand in Dec. 2023. When police were unable to continue the investigation into Hwang, they requested an Interpol blue notice (to determine whereabouts) last May and invalidated Hwang's passport. Hwang is said to have subsequently entered Cambodia illegally and stayed there.
Then, on Oct., media reported that Hwang was living luxuriously in Cambodia. Hwang's attorney recently told police that Hwang would appear voluntarily, and police traveled to Cambodia, took Hwang into custody, and executed an arrest warrant aboard a national carrier at Phnom Penh Techo International Airport.
Hwang was indicted on charges including three instances of methamphetamine use at her home in Seoul from May to Sept. 2015, and in 2019 received a one-year prison sentence suspended for two years. During the suspension period the following year, Hwang was indicted again on charges of drug use and was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison.