Police are conducting intensive interrogations day after day of Park Wang-yeol, who is suspected of distributing drugs via Telegram in Korea.
According to the Gyeonggi Northern Provincial Police Agency's Metropolitan Investigation Unit on the 30th, Park Wang-yeol has been questioned by police every single day for six days straight from the moment he was extradited to Korea on the 25th.
On the first day of the extradition, the questioning began at 11 a.m. and continued until 9 p.m., lasting a full 10 hours.
Park Wang-yeol was said to have given statements about matters related to the drug distribution network during the questioning.
A police official said, "We are looking into the overall process, including drug distribution routes." However, the investigative team said it could not disclose specifics about the statements obtained.
In June 2024, Park Wang-yeol is suspected of bringing 1.5 kilograms of Philippine-made methamphetamine into Korea by disguising it in coffee pouches through a local accomplice. In July of the same year, he allegedly conspired with a foreigner of unknown nationality to hand over a bag containing 3.1 kilograms of methamphetamine in South Africa to an accomplice and instructed that it be smuggled into Gimhae Airport.
He is also under investigation on suspicion of using the so-called "drop-off" method—hiding drugs in fire hydrants or mailboxes across the country, including Seoul, Busan, and Daegu—for sale through domestic contacts for about a year from November 2019.
The narcotics he distributed or smuggled into Korea are tallied as about 4.9 kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 4,500 tablets of ecstasy, about 2 kilograms of ketamine, 19 tabs of LSD, and 3.99 grams of marijuana, with a street value amounting to 3 billion won.
Earlier, in October 2016, Park Wang-yeol was arrested locally in 2020 for the killing of three Koreans in a sugarcane field in the Philippines. He was subsequently given a finalized prison term of 60 years maximum and 52 years minimum in 2022 and was held in a local prison.
Even while incarcerated, he used the nickname "Jeon Segye" in Telegram and led the smuggling of drugs into Korea, and he drew suspicion that he lived a luxurious life in prison with the revenue he collected from it.
Relevant agencies, including the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the National Intelligence Service (NIS), succeeded in temporarily securing custody of Park Wang-yeol for investigation into violations of the Narcotics Control Act after working-level consultations with Philippine authorities.
On the 27th, the Uijeongbu District Court issued a warrant to detain Park Wang-yeol on the grounds that "there is a concern about destruction of evidence and flight." Considering that the maximum police detention investigation period is 10 days, Park Wang-yeol is expected to be sent to the prosecution within this week.