By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Police arrested two Pakistanis and a Korean man Sunday for smuggling massive quantities of acetic anhydride, a raw material for heroin production. They are suspected of being linked to Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.
According to the Police National Agency, the three suspects had used South Korea since last February as a shipping point for several tons of acetic anhydride destined for Afghanistan.
They allegedly loaded the raw materials into containers to avoid detection. The three suspects admitted that the recipient of the finished product was intended to be the Taliban, but denied that they were requested or ordered by members of the insurgency.
``They chose our country for the transferring of the drug material because Korea is a relatively drug-free country. A further investigation will be made into the alleged link to Taliban,’’ a police officer said.