A member of a Yakuza organization, originally from Korea, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for smuggling 636 kilograms of marijuana, enough for over 1.27 million people to smoke simultaneously.
According to Yonhap News on October 8, the Suwon District Court's Criminal Division 13, presided over by Judge Jang Seok-jun, imposed the sentence on the 50-year-old defendant, identified as A, who was charged with violating drug control laws. The court also ordered the confiscation of the seized marijuana.
A was indicted for shipping the marijuana from the Thai port of Lam Chabang in early March, which arrived at Incheon Port on March 23.
He is accused of conspiring with a drug trafficking organization based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to smuggle the marijuana into South Korea, distributing some domestically while planning to export the remainder to a Japanese Yakuza group.
The seized marijuana is estimated to be enough for approximately 1.27 million people to smoke, based on a standard single-use amount of 0.5 grams. This is reported to be the largest quantity of drugs smuggled into the country for domestic distribution in history.
During the trial, A's defense argued that the National Intelligence Service and the prosecution (now the Public Prosecution Service) had unlawfully induced his actions through the use of informants with prior drug offenses, claiming it was a trap investigation. However, the court found no evidence to support the claim that law enforcement had intentionally led A to commit drug smuggling. The court noted that A had direct contact with members of the Vietnamese drug organization and was involved in the smuggling process.
The court also considered A's previous conviction for smuggling methamphetamine, for which he received a six-year prison sentence, and the fact that he committed a larger-scale crime in collaboration with international drug traffickers. These factors contributed to the court's assessment of the severity of his actions.
However, the court acknowledged that A admitted to his crimes and cooperated with the investigation, which was taken into account as a mitigating factor. The court explained that the marijuana was immediately detected upon importation and had not been distributed domestically, and that no actual criminal profits were generated from the operation.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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