The "drug king" Park Wang-yeol, who was extradited from the Philippines to Korea, was handed over to prosecutors.
The Gyeonggi Northern Provincial Police Agency's narcotics crime investigation unit said on the 3rd that Park was arrested and sent to prosecutors on charges including organizing a criminal group and violating the Act on the Control of Narcotics, etc.
Park is known to have smuggled and distributed narcotics while serving time in a Philippine prison. The narcotics he distributed are worth 13.1 billion won at market prices. They include a total of 17.7 kilograms of narcotics, including 12.7 kilograms of methamphetamine.
In a 2016 sugarcane field murder case in the Philippines, Park killed three Koreans and was serving time there before escaping in 2019. While on the run, he began distributing drugs to Korea, embarking on a full-scale path as a drug trafficker.
He learned basic knowledge about drugs and distribution methods from "Sara Kim," whom he met in a Philippine prison, and distributed them via Telegram. He is known to have distributed methamphetamine using 12 Telegram channels and 27 accounts, and to have run a criminal organization of 15 people, including a national sales boss, mid-level sellers, and account managers.
Police additionally identified 30 people involved, including 236 accomplices, drug suppliers, and operators of coin proxy companies involved in money laundering, and booked seven of them. Police also increased a dedicated task force to a total of 39 from the Northern Police Agency, the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, and the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency, and plan to continue the investigation through a joint probe.
Park was abruptly extradited to Korea on the 25th of last month after President Lee Jae-myung requested provisional surrender during a summit with the Philippines in early March.