▲ This image, provided by Gangnam Police Station on April 5, 2023, shows a suspect handing over a drink spiked with drugs to a student in Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) Yoon-drug crime

(LEAD) Yoon orders stern crackdown on drug rings following scam targeting students in Gangnam

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details)

SEOUL, April 6 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday ordered the mobilization of all investigative capabilities to root out drug rings and retrieve their criminal proceeds after learning of a recent scam where high school students were duped into drinking drug-laced beverages.

The students reportedly exhibited abnormal symptoms after drinking beverages spiked with methamphetamine, which were given to them by a group of people who tricked them into believing they were good for concentration, according to police.

"This is a shocking case of drugs spreading to even high school students," Yoon said, according to his spokesperson Lee Do-woon.

"The prosecution and police should mobilize all investigative capabilities to root out drug distribution and sales rings, track criminal proceeds to the end and retrieve them," he added.

A 49-year-old woman has been detained on suspicion of handing the drinks to the students in an area lined with private tutoring academies, while two alleged accomplices have turned themselves in.

They told police they didn't know the beverages were drugged and distributed them only as part-timers hired through the internet. Six students have so far been found affected.

Police were tracking down an alleged mastermind behind the scheme.

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