 |
| ▲ An officer of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency holds a media briefing on drug offenders on April 26, 2023. (Yonhap) |
minor drug offenders-bust
Drug offenders nabbed for providing meth to minors
SEOUL, April 26 (Yonhap) -- A large number of drug offenders who sold or handed out methamphetamine or other drugs to minors have been caught, police said Wednesday.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it has rounded up a total of 131 drug offenders in an intensive investigation launched two years ago on a tip-off that there is an adult who provides methamphetamine to minors.
The agency said it has charged 39 drug suspects, including a 32-year-old gang member, with violating the Narcotics Control Act and 18 of them were put under arrest and handed over to the prosecution.
Police have also caught 92 people who bought or received drugs from the drug suspects, the agency said, noting 15 of them are teenagers.
The gang member and other suspects are accused of selling methamphetamine, hemp or synthetic hemp brought in from Thailand through Telegram from January 2021 until last month, or providing the illegal drugs to minors who were acquainted with them via social media or random chatting sites.
The minors first encountered the drugs through adult drug offenders or friends they met on the internet, the agency said, adding most of them started out of curiosity before becoming addicted and taking repeated doses.
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
