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Suwon prosecutors say they have busted a drug smuggling ring that was hiring Korean students in Canada as mules to deliver narcotics with an estimated market value of W260 billion (US$260 million) to Korea and elsewhere. The Suwon district attorney's office booked 45 people and detained 18 of them on charges of trafficking in narcotics, including five students they say were running the drugs.
Prosecutors say the group since March 2004 approached Korean women studying English in Vancouver to sign them up as mules for its operation. The group offered to pay their airfare as well as W1.5 million (about US$1,500) each time they took small quantities of drugs to Australia, Japan and Korea. The women would carry packs of up to 1 kg of cocaine or speed strapped to their torso under a maternity support belt, prosecutors say.
They said many of the mules went undetected because drug sniffer dogs get tired after only 20 minutes while airport guards are surprisingly negligent. The mules altogether delivered some 50 kg of speed, 30 kg of cocaine and 10,000 Ecstasy tablets, they added.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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