By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Police apprehended a 36-year-old housewife identified as Seo, three doctors and four pharmacists for distributing diet pills containing narcotic substances. Investigators secured 1,200 pills from Seo and are currently looking for her clients.
Seo bought 13,000 pills of the drugs with prescriptions for 15 different acquaintances. She borrowed their identification and health insurance details last October.
A doctor identified as Kim and others knew Seo's actions were illegal but prescribed the drugs more than 70 times to get the insurance fee. Pharmacist Koh later sold the drugs even without prescription.
Seo sold the drugs online to 33 people, reaping more than 52 million won in illicit gains. Since regulations on narcotic diet pill prescriptions got tougher, the offender was able to find many clients, Gyeonggi Police Agency said Tuesday. Among the buyers, six were nurses, eight were college students and two were high school students.
Police warned that such drugs should be used carefully, and under medical supervision. ``Such pills could cause hallucinations, hypertension and many other side effects,'' the police spokesman said.
Police were alert to the case when they detected the same substance from a drug dealer's hair in a separate case.