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| 2023-05-04 15:02:17
drug scam suspects-indictment
Drug scam suspect faces underage drugging charge punishable by death
SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- Prosecutors on Thursday indicted three suspects in a drug scam targeting teenagers, applying against one of them the charge of supplying drugs to minors that is punishable by death.
The recent drug scam shocked South Korean society, in which drug-laced beverages were handed out to teenage students in Seoul's southern Gangnam Ward with false labels, claiming they were intended to enhance memory and concentration.
Each beverage given to teenagers contained three times as much methamphetamine as a usual dose, and the parents of at least six students who received the drinks were later blackmailed with demands for money and threats to report their children to the police for drug charges.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office on Thursday indicted two men, surnamed Gil and Park, on respective charges of producing and supplying drug-laced beverages to teenagers and operating telephone repeaters used in the money extraction scam.
The prosecution office also indicted another man, surnamed Park, on charges of supplying meth to Gil.
The prosecution, in particular, brought the charge of drugging minors against Gil. Under the drug management act, habitually producing or supplying drugs to minors or drugging them in pursuit of profits is punishable by the capital punishment at the maximum or a 10-year prison term at the minimum.
According to investigations, Gil bought 10 grams of meth, produced 100 drug-laced beverages and distributed 13 of them to minors. Nine of those who received the beverage drank them, and six suffered symptoms, such as hallucinations.
Concluding the drug scam was organized in collusion with a voice phishing crime ring in China, prosecutors plan to track down the mastermind and other accomplices in collaboration with the Chinese police, officials said.
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