Repatriation of fraudster from Kuwait an exercise in international cooperation

Social Affairs

Published: 18 Apr. 2024, 17:30

Repatriation of fraudster from Kuwait an exercise in international cooperation

A fugitive who had defrauded 3 billion won ($2.18 million) 12 years ago is repatriated through Incheon International Airport on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

A fugitive who fled to Kuwait after defrauding local companies out of 3 billion won ($2.18 million) 12 years ago was finally repatriated to Korea on Wednesday through the cooperation of three countries and Interpol, the National Police Agency announced Thursday.

The fugitive, a man in his 50s who was wanted on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Economic Crimes, was repatriated through Incheon International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, according to the top police agency.

In May 2011, the man deceived domestic manufacturers of material products by forging orders for building materials from the Kuwaiti entity of a Korean construction company, pocketing around 3 billion won in the process.

He fled to Kuwait in September 2012, and the National Police Agency began tracking him with the help of an Interpol red notice and the Kuwaiti police.

The Kuwaiti police tracked the man’s whereabouts based on clues provided by the National Police Agency and discovered the fugitive’s hideout in Kuwait’s Mubarak Al-Kabeer governorate. After a stakeout operation, authorities arrested the man on March 27.

Given the nature of the man's crimes and the risk he might flee, the suspect had to be repatriated with a police escort.

However, a lack of direct flights between Korea and Kuwait complicated the repatriation.

Korean and Kuwaiti authorities accordingly implemented a "transit convoy" via a third country, Thailand. Considering flight schedules and other elements, Korean escort officers took over the suspect from the Kuwaiti police at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. Thailand’s Immigration Department cooperated with managing the suspect's movement during his seven-hour stay at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Police stationed at the Korean Embassy in Kuwait and dispatched to the Korean Embassy in Thailand, as well as Thai police sent to the Korean National Police Agency, actively cooperated in the process.

“It is significant that we successfully arrested and repatriated the fugitive through trilateral cooperation between Korea, Kuwait and Thailand, led by the National Police Agency,” a National Police Agency official said. “Suspects who commit crimes and flee will be pursued to the ends of the earth and brought to justice.”

The National Police Agency also said that since Feb. 20, it has operated three levels of management for fugitives who fled abroad after committing crimes that threaten people's daily lives, such as fraud and drug crimes, and that authorities “are working closely with relevant organizations at home and abroad to make every effort to apprehend and repatriate fugitive criminals intensively."

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]