A so-called "big-time" supplier who had been providing large quantities of narcotics to Southeast Asian drug smuggling and distribution rings has been sent to trial.
The Government Joint Narcotics Crime Investigation Headquarters said on the 29th that it indicted Choi Byung-min, 50, under detention on charges including psychotropic substances under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes.
According to the headquarters, Choi is accused of importing narcotics through a China-affiliated organization based in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, and supplying them to domestic and overseas distribution ringleaders from December 2019 to September 2021.
He was found to have smuggled about 10.9 kg of methamphetamine into Korea in three batches from Germany and Laos, and to have sold 4,955 ecstasy pills, about 3.52 kg of ketamine, and about 50 g of methamphetamine to Park Wang-yeol, known as the "Philippines drug kingpin," and others.
It was determined that in September 2020 he supplied 3,000 ecstasy pills and about 2 kg of ketamine to Park Wang-yeol.
Choi was found to have operated on Telegram under the nickname "Cheongdam," conducting transaction of narcotics in exchange for cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
After receiving the case from police, the headquarters said it also confirmed through additional investigation that Choi additionally smuggled about 10 kg of methamphetamine from Laos in two batches in July–August 2021.
The indictment also includes charges that Choi stored and managed 44.2 kg of methamphetamine, 44.2 kg of ketamine, and 71,811 ecstasy pills for about nine months starting in January 2021.
Choi was found to have used a doctored photo to obtain a passport under another person's name and illegally departed for Cambodia while on the run. It also came to light that in 2016 he used a forged Taiwanese passport to enter a casino.
The headquarters believes Choi laundered criminal proceeds in the billions of won earned from drug distribution through borrowed-name accounts and virtual assets, then used them as funds to flee to Thailand.
The headquarters said that even before the case was referred by police, it formed a dedicated investigation team and reexamined more than 22,000 pages of records from co-conspirators' cases and mobile phone forensic materials.