Police will seek an arrest warrant for a person surnamed Choi, 51, suspected of supplying methamphetamine and other narcotics to Park Wang-yeol, known as the so-called "drug king."
The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency's narcotics and international crimes investigation unit said it plans to request an arrest warrant for Choi on the 2nd after he was forcibly repatriated from Thailand.
Choi is accused of smuggling into Korea or distributing narcotics worth about 10 billion won on the street, including 22 kilograms of methamphetamine, since 2019, in violation of the Narcotics Control Act and other laws.
Choi's existence emerged during the investigation of Park Wang-yeol, who was forcibly repatriated from the Philippines in March. Police are said to have obtained a lead that Choi was involved as a supplier while tracking Park's narcotics distribution route.
Previously, Choi was found to have been on a wanted list and under suspended indictment in connection with a separate drug smuggling case. In response, police designated the Gyeonggi Nambu narcotics and international crimes investigation unit as the lead investigative office and tracked Choi's flight overseas.
After confirming that Choi was staying in Thailand, investigators began cooperating with local police and arrested him in Thailand on the 10th of last month. The following morning, after Choi boarded a flight to Korea at a Thai airport, they executed an arrest warrant. After being repatriated to Korea via Incheon International Airport, Choi is currently being held at the Suwon Yeongtong Police Station detention center.
Following the day before, police are also questioning Choi as a suspect today. They are expediting the analysis of seized items, including a passport under an assumed name and mobile phones obtained in Thailand, and plan to use this to determine in detail the transaction scale between Choi and Park Wang-yeol, narcotics distribution routes, and the flow of criminal revenue.
They are also looking into how Choi used a passport under an assumed name and whether he violated the Passport Act. Police plan to continue additional investigations in cooperation with local investigative agencies to determine whether a narcotics production facility existed in Thailand.