Gang involved in smuggling 564kg of gold bars... fined 24.5 billion won

[Image source = Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Eun-young] A group involved in smuggling gold bars worth hundreds of billions of won from China and distributing them in the market was sentenced to imprisonment in the appellate court. The total amount of gold bars they smuggled is known to be 564kg, with a market value of 27.8 billion won.

On the 4th, the 1st Criminal Division of the Jeonju Branch of the Gwangju High Court (Chief Judge Kim Sung-joo) announced that in the appellate trial of Mr. A, in his 50s, who was indicted for violating the Customs Act, the court sentenced him to 3 years in prison with a 5-year probation and a fine of 24.5 billion won, the same as the original trial.

Mr. B and Mr. C, who assisted Mr. A in the crime, were sentenced to 2 years in prison with a 3-year probation and 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year probation, respectively, which were lighter sentences than the original trial.

Additionally, the court ordered the group led by Mr. A to pay a joint confiscation amount of 27,814,085,000 won.

Mr. A was indicted on charges of receiving 12kg of gold bars worth 590 million won through a ship arriving at Gunsan International Passenger Terminal from China on May 15, 2018, and distributing them in the market.

According to the investigation, they smuggled and distributed a total of 564kg of gold bars worth 27.8 billion won over 44 occasions in about six months until November of the same year using the same method.

They are accused of smuggling and distributing gold bars about 37 times in total, with the Chinese gold smuggling mastermind sending the gold bars to Mr. C, who handed them over to Mr. B, who operated a precious metals business. Mr. B then disposed of them and sent them to Mr. A, who ran a currency exchange, and Mr. A sent the money back to the Chinese mastermind.

The first trial court sentenced Mr. A to a fine and probation, stating that "the nature of the crime is bad," but both the prosecution and Mr. A appealed, citing inappropriate sentencing.

The appellate court stated, "The scale of the crime is hundreds of billions of won, the number of offenses is large, the smuggled gold bars have already been distributed in the market, and it is practically difficult to collect the full or a significant portion of the confiscation amount, which are unfavorable factors. However, considering that the defendant is a first-time offender and has little or no profit from the crime, the original sentence appears appropriate."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.