Of the 73 Korean crime syndicate members forcibly repatriated after running scams in Cambodia, 55 have been detained.
The Korean National Police Agency National Office of Investigation (NOI) said that as of 9 a.m. on the 26th, detention warrants had been issued for 55 of the 72 people for whom warrants were sought.
Detention warrants were issued the previous afternoon for 49 members of a "no-show scam" ring transferred to the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency anti-corruption and economic crime investigation unit, citing concerns about destruction of evidence and flight risk.
They are accused of impersonating public officials around Oct. last year and tricking people into making proxy purchases of goods from certain companies, then pocketing the money. There are 194 victims nationwide, with estimated damages of 6.9 billion won.
A husband-and-wife scam ring escorted to the Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency anti-corruption and economic crime investigation unit on charges of extorting about 12 billion won from 104 people through deepfake-based romance scams was also detained.
Seventeen members of the ring accused of defrauding about 5 billion won from more than 30 victims through romance scams will undergo a pretrial detention review (substantive warrant review) this afternoon. The Chungnam Provincial Police Agency mobile investigation unit is handling the case.
An interagency transnational crime special response task force (TF) on the 23rd forcibly repatriated 73 crime syndicate members who, based in Cambodia, stole a total of 48.6 billion won from 869 Koreans. It was the largest operation on record.
Police the next day sought detention warrants for all the forcibly repatriated suspects. Prosecutors requested warrants for 72, excluding one person whose alleged offense was deemed minor.