Suspects in murder of pharmacist held in Seoul

Seongbuk Police Station arrested two 28-year-old Chinese restaurant delivery men, surnamed Lee and Shin, yesterday and charged them with kidnapping, robbing and murdering a 48-year-old pharmacist surnamed Han on July 17. They allegedly dumped her corpse in a drainage ditch near the Gwangmyeong interchange on the West Coast Highway.

They were arrested at the restaurant where they work, which is 50 meters (164 feet) from Han’s residence.

Han went missing after driving her Lacetti vehicle from a supermarket at 11:40 p.m. on July 16.

Her corpse, naked from the waist down, was found at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. Han’s burning car was found in Gireumdong, Seongbuk district at 3 a.m. on July 17.

Police traced the suspects through telephone records, witness statements and CCTV tapes, and found them yesterday morning. Fifty detectives were sent to arrest them at the restaurant, and they were brought to the Seongbuk Police Station for further investigation.

By Park Jeong-eon [enational@joongang.co.kr]