Police in Daegu are investigating 24 Thai nationals on suspicions of various drug offenses including smuggling.
Daegu Bukbu Police Station said Thursday 11 suspects face charges of smuggling drugs such as methamphetamine and yaba -- a mix of methamphetamine and caffeine -- from Thailand since May last year. The police confiscated 292.9 grams of meth and 244 yaba pills.
Confiscated drug samples. Methamphetamine (top left) and yaba pills (top right). (Daegu Bukbu Police Station, Yonhap)
One of the suspected drug dealers came to South Korea on a tourist visa last May for the purpose of trafficking drugs and has been staying here illegally, according to the police.
The smuggled drugs were sold to Thai workers at four different industrial complexes in Daegu, 13 of whom have been detained. The police station’s chief detective Kim Dong-wook said they are searching for others who may have bought and used the drugs.
Facebook was the primary means of contact for the drug dealing, the police said.
They are also investigating the accomplice who sent the drugs from Thailand through an international courier service.
In January, a Thai drug dealer was sentenced to 18 months in jail by Cheongju District Court for possessing, trading, distributing and administrating around 4,300 yaba pills from June 2017 to July last year in Irwon, Gyeonggi Province.
By Kim Arin (
arin@heraldcorp.com)