Police Crack Down on Foreign Organizations Distributing 'Daepocha' to Illegal Residents in Korea

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] A group that created so-called 'ghost cars' and distributed them to illegal immigrants in South Korea has been arrested by the police.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced on the 27th that they arrested 13 people, including a foreigner from Central Asia identified as Mr. A, on charges of violating the Automobile Management Act, and detained 9 of them. According to the police, Mr. A and others are suspected of selling a total of 203 vehicles to illegal immigrants in South Korea through Facebook from December 2020 to August last year, charging 3 to 5 million KRW per vehicle without transferring ownership.

Police investigations revealed that they divided roles such as the mastermind who sourced ghost vehicles and found buyers, and distributors who purchased and sold the vehicles. The vehicles sold by Mr. A and others were confirmed to be used cars that were unlawfully transferred under foreigner names before sale and had unpaid mandatory insurance, traffic violations, unpaid automobile taxes, and missed regular inspections, resulting in fines. Among these, some vehicles had as many as 134 fines imposed. There were also vehicles involved in hit-and-run accidents or wanted for theft cases. To evade police crackdowns, Mr. A and others were found to have swapped license plates on some vehicles.

The police received intelligence in October last year about a foreign organization distributing ghost cars to illegal immigrants and launched an investigation. A Seoul police official said, "After forming a dedicated investigation team and conducting focused investigations, we identified and arrested most of the organization members, successfully blocking the spread of ghost car distribution in the country." The police added that Mr. A and others exploited a systemic loophole allowing dozens of vehicles to be registered under a single person's name during the crime, and they have notified relevant agencies to improve this system.

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