‘Drug King’ in Gimhae busted after a car chase

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‘Drug King’ in Gimhae busted after a car chase

Prosecutors indicted five drug smugglers and one drug user with physical detention and confiscated 370 grams (13 ounces) of methamphetamine from them. The drugs, worth about 120 million won ($113,040), would be enough to get 12,000 people high, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Sunday.

Prosecutors added that they placed two other suspected smugglers who distributed the drugs in South Gyeongsang and Seoul on a wanted list.

According to prosecutors, one of the five smugglers, a 43-year-old man identified as Oh, who was nicknamed “Drug King” in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang, sold 318 grams of meth that was smuggled from China between October 2012 and April to the four indicted brokers in the southeastern province. It was revealed that Oh only used borrowed-name bank accounts and mobile phones to conduct his business. Oh is also said to have sold doses of meth only inside his Mercedes.

The prosecutors said that most of the 318 grams of meth sold by Oh were distributed through gang affiliations, adding that at least 10 grams, or enough to be consumed by over 300 people, was traded in a single deal.

Authorities said the five indicted brokers only conducted drug deals with people that they had known from their previous prison terms or longtime friends from their hometowns to avoid police crackdowns.

Oh’s stint as a drug king ended in July when he was arrested after a 10-kilometer (6.2-mile) high-speed car chase in Gimhae, which ended when Oh crashed his car. Inside the car were doses of meth and a Japanese sword that Oh had kept there in case he had to confront the authorities.



BY KANG JIN-KYU [jkkang2@joongang.co.kr]
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