Suspects behind drugged-drink distribution apprehended by police

Social Affairs

Published: 09 Apr. 2023, 18:00 Updated: 10 Apr. 2023, 19:20

Suspects behind drugged-drink distribution apprehended by police

One of the spiked drinks labeled ″Mega ADHD″ that was handed to high school students as part of a blackmail scheme [SEOUL GANGNAM POLICE PRECINCT]

Two people, suspected of having produced drugged drinks and distributing them to students in Seoul and of blackmailing parents of the students who took the drinks at Daechi-dong in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, have been apprehended, the police said Saturday.

One of the suspects, only identified by their surname Gil, was caught in Wonju, Gangwon, at around 4:41 p.m. on Friday. The suspect is accused of producing the drink and sending it to part-time workers hired to hand them out to students going to their hagwon, or private cram schools, in Gangnam. Gil, a Korean, is believed to reside in China.

The other suspect, Kim, was detained by the police in Incheon on Friday afternoon for using a phone-number-changing repeater to threaten the parents of students who took the drink.

The police requested arrest warrants for both of them, the reviews for which will be held Monday.

Four people who handed out the drugged drinks to students in the hagwon-dense area have all been detained by the police. They all either turned themselves in or were caught by the police.

The detained suspects are accused of giving out drinks, labeled “Mega ADHD,” to high school students in the private cram school area. They reportedly asked passing students to participate in a free tasting event for beverages that they claimed could boost memory and concentration, which actually contained methamphetamines and ecstasy, according to police.

Police suspect that there are more people who are involved in the case overseas, as the empty bottles that contained the drink were sent from China. The phone calls that the parents received, which threatened to report their children to the police for taking drugs if they do not give them money, were all from China as well.

The detained suspects testified that they signed up for the job after seeing a part-time job post promising high compensation. They say they were not aware that the drinks contained drugs.

At least eight people, including one parent, have reported being drugged.

The case was handed over to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the presidential office said Friday. The announcement came after President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered authorities a day earlier to “deploy all available police and prosecution resources to track down the group that distributed and sold these drugs and confiscate their criminal proceeds.”

A notice pasted on a wall of a hagwon (cram school) in Daechi-dong of Gangnam District, southern Seoul, alerts students to not take suspicious drinks in the area. [NEWS1]

Despite concerns over possible side effects of students who took the drink, experts say a one-time consumption will likely not lead to serious addiction.

“It is suspected that the students have taken a minimal amount,” Kim Sun-cheun, a senior research scientist at the National Forensic Service said.

“There will be no health issues as long as they get treated well and excrete them.”

On top of the crackdown, People Power Party lawmaker Yoo Gyeong-joon proposed on Friday an amendment that could penalize anyone who lets minors take drugs with as much as a death penalty or life imprisonment and at least 10 years in prison.

Under the current law, anyone that forces minors to take drugs is given at least five years in prison, and those who let minors take cannabis are given at least three years in prison.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO, CHOI SEO-IN [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]