Authorities arrest meth supplier in Cambodia involved with Gangnam drugged drinks

Social Affairs

Published: 19 Apr. 2024, 19:17 Updated: 19 Apr. 2024, 19:29

Authorities arrest meth supplier in Cambodia involved with Gangnam drugged drinks

A 38-year-old Chinese national who supplied ingredients of methamphetamine to producers who manufactured spiked drinks is handcuffed and photographed by Cambodian police authority. [NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE]

Korea's top spy agency and Cambodian police announced Friday that they arrested a Chinese drug supplier who provided methamphetamine to the producers of spiked drinks that fooled underage students in southern Seoul last year.

The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it caught the 38-year-old drug dealer on March 16 after confirming his whereabouts through cooperation with Korea’s National Police Agency, Korean prosecution authorities and Cambodian police.

The drug dealer allegedly gave the ingredients for meth to the producers and distributors of the drugged drink. In April last year, a total of nine people were unwillingly drugged and fell ill after consuming the drink, which was labeled as a substance that could enhance one’s memory and concentration.

The NIS identified the supplier after catching a 34-year-old Chinese person who attempted to smuggle 4 kilograms (8.81 pounds) of meth through Incheon International Airport in January.

Packages of illicit drugs that were found at a hideout of a 38-year-old Chinese drug dealer in Cambodia [NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE]

At the 38-year-old offender’s hideout in Cambodia, law enforcers found some 700 grams of meth and an illegal drug manufacturing facility.

The NIS said the recently-caught drug dealer supplied meth even after the drugged drink incident took place last year in April. The dealer also had a plan to illicitly export newly-invented blue-colored meth to Korea in large quantities.

He will face criminal punishment according to Cambodian law.

The drink's producer, 27, surnamed Gil, received a 15 year long imprisonment at his first trial in Korea last October. Another accomplice surnamed Lee, who orchestrated the drugged drink scheme, was extradited from China to Korea in December and indicted with detention in January by Korean prosecutors.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]