Man on 8-year run used brother, hometown friend to deal cannabis from Thailand

A man in his 40s who distributed cannabis in South Korea through his older brother and a hometown friend while evading authorities abroad has been apprehended in Phuket, Thailand, after eight years on the run and repatriated to South Korea.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Metropolitan Investigation Unit's narcotics crime investigation team said Thursday it had forwarded the suspect, identified only as A, to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act.

A is accused of entering the domestic cannabis trade after a South Korean drug dealer in his 20s, identified as B, approached him in Thailand in May last year. Investigators found that A purchased 3 kilograms of cannabis smuggled into Incheon International Airport by B's network, then recruited his hometown sunbae, C, and his older brother, D, as domestic distributors.

Acting on A's instructions, C and D sold cannabis directly to acquaintances in Busan and the surrounding South Gyeongsang Province area. Both are in their 50s. "They sold cannabis to acquaintances in and around Busan through face-to-face transactions," a narcotics investigator at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said.

Police arrested C and D in June last year and seized 2.5 kilograms of cannabis they had been storing — worth about 375 million won ($283,000) and enough for roughly 5,000 people to smoke simultaneously. Both were subsequently sentenced to prison and are currently serving their terms.

Of the remaining roughly 500 grams police were unable to seize, some was sold and some was consumed directly. "The amount sold was not large, and some was consumed personally," a police official said. "The confirmed proceeds from sales came to a small amount, in the range of 5 million won."

B, who had proposed the cannabis distribution scheme to A, was also arrested in Thailand in March this year on charges of possessing ketamine and is currently standing trial. A had fled to Thailand in March 2018 immediately after committing fraud and spent roughly eight years moving between Thailand and Laos. He continued to participate in domestic cannabis distribution even while remaining abroad as a wanted suspect in multiple criminal cases, including drug offenses and fraud.

Police and the National Intelligence Service tracked A in cooperation with Thai authorities. The NIS, a local police liaison officer, Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board and the Thai Immigration Bureau jointly traced his whereabouts before conducting a joint operation in Phuket on Aug. 12 to take him into custody.

Thai authorities subsequently decided to deport A. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's narcotics crime investigation team and international crime investigation team dispatched officers to Thailand, arrested A aboard a Korean national carrier flight on Thursday and escorted him back to South Korea. Police immediately applied for a detention warrant upon his return, and a court issued it on Saturday, citing the risk of flight.

"We will continue to work closely with domestic and international agencies to track down and apprehend those who flee overseas or cross borders to commit drug crimes," a police official said.