All Three 'Dongnam-a 3dae Mayakwang' Captured... Choi Sangseon, the Mastermind, Forced to be Repatriated Today

Our police are receiving custody of Kim Mo, the top organizer of drug smuggling, from the Vietnam Ministry of Public Security for domestic forced repatriation. /Provided by the National Police Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The top organizer of a drug trafficking ring smuggling drugs from Southeast Asia into South Korea was captured in Vietnam and forcibly repatriated on the 19th. With this, all the so-called 'Three Major Drug Lords of Southeast Asia' have been apprehended by Korean police.

The National Police Agency announced that, in cooperation with the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security, they forcibly repatriated Kim (age 47), who was arrested locally, through Incheon International Airport this morning. Kim was the last suspect among the so-called 'Three Major Drug Lords of Southeast Asia' who had not yet been caught. With this arrest, the police have successfully apprehended all three major drug lords. Besides Kim, the 'Telegram Drug Lord Worldwide' Park and the North Korean defector drug dealer Choi are included among the three. Park was arrested in the Philippines in 2020 and is currently imprisoned there, while Choi was captured in Cambodia and forcibly repatriated to South Korea last April.

Kim has been accused of selling methamphetamine and synthetic marijuana to buyers through domestic suppliers via Telegram since 2018. He is identified as the top organizer of Southeast Asian drug smuggling, supplying drugs to the other two major drug lords, Park and Choi. Kim was wanted on drug distribution charges by 13 investigative agencies nationwide, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Busan, and over 20 accomplices, including identified domestic sellers, were involved. The confirmed market value of the distributed drugs amounts to 7 billion KRW. The police expect the investigation related to Kim's arrest to accelerate and anticipate that the actual distribution scale is even larger.

The cooperative investigation into Kim began in June 2019 when an Interpol Red Notice was issued. In May of the following year, the police negotiated with Vietnamese public security and dispatched a joint investigation team to the local area. After obtaining leads on Kim's whereabouts, the police sent a support team to Vietnam on the 16th and, in cooperation with the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security, jointly arrested Kim near his residence in Ho Chi Minh City the next day. Kang Gitaek, head of the Interpol International Cooperation Division, stated, "This is an excellent case of apprehending the top organizer of a Southeast Asian drug smuggling organization," and added, "We will continue to strengthen international cooperation with foreign police to respond to overseas base crimes."

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