"Philippine drug kingpin" Park Wang-yeol appeared for a court hearing for a pre-arrest warrant review.
Park Wang-yeol, for whom an arrest warrant was requested on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act, arrived at the Uijeongbu District Court around 10 a.m. on the 27th in a police transport vehicle.
Park Wang-yeol did not answer reporters' questions such as "Did you inject methamphetamine in a Philippine prison," "Where did you get your drug supply," and "Did you directly order the smuggling of drugs."
Whether Park Wang-yeol will be detained is expected to be decided this afternoon.
A police investigation found indications that, before extradition, Park Wang-yeol injected methamphetamine in the Philippines.
The Gyeonggi Northern Police Agency's Provincial Special Crime Investigation Unit said a rapid urine test for Park Wang-yeol returned positive for methamphetamine. It was revealed that during questioning Park Wang-yeol admitted to injecting methamphetamine.
A rapid methamphetamine reagent test can generally detect use up to five days prior. For this reason, Park Wang-yeol is presumed to have injected methamphetamine in a Philippine prison.
Police requested a detailed analysis from the National Forensic Service and plan to decide this afternoon whether to disclose Park Wang-yeol's identity through a review committee on public disclosure of personal information.
Park Wang-yeol was temporarily extradited on the 25th and is under investigation by the Gyeonggi Northern Police Agency on suspicion of distributing large quantities of drugs domestically while serving time in a local prison after killing three Koreans in the Philippines.
Police arrested 42 members of Park Wang-yeol's organization: 29 sellers, 10 suppliers, two smugglers, and one funds manager. Including 194 simple buyers, the total number of people arrested is 236. Of these, 42 have been detained.
The drugs they distributed amounted to about 4.9 kg of methamphetamine, more than 4,500 ecstasy pills, 2 kg of ketamine, 19 doses of LSD, and 3.99 g of marijuana. The street value is estimated at about 3 billion won.