Police nab more than 60 foreigners on drug, illegal stay charges in S.Korea

Andong (South Korea), June 18

More than 60 foreigners have been nabbed in North Gyeongsang province on charges related to drug abuse and illegally staying in the country, local police said on Sunday.

The police agency in the southeastern province said they carried out a special crackdown on neighbourhoods with large number of foreign workers and apprehended 68 people, including 27 who were arrested on charges of distributing and using drugs.

The suspects include 43 Thai nationals and two South Korean nationals, who are suspected of distributing and injecting yaba, a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine, and 23 undocumented immigrants, Yonhap news agency reported.

The drug offenders reportedly distributed yaba to nightclubs that are run exclusively for Thais and to areas with a dense foreign population after securing the narcotic through a line of sellers tracing back to a chief in Thailand.

The Thais who purchased yaba were all undocumented immigrants in South Korea and lived in groups in small apartments where they injected the drugs together, according to the police.

The crackdown began in April, a month after one Thai person was arrested on charges of attempted murder following a brawl involving knives at a club for Thais.

The suspect was found to have injected yaba four days before the crime.