Gyeonggi police crackdown nets over 5,000 criminals
Gangsters from the Busan-based mob "Jangcheol-pa" who worked around bars and prostitution houses in the city's Buk-gu district line up at the city police station. Korea Times file
By Ko Dong-hwan
Over 5,000 gangsters and thugs have been caught by a Gyeonggi police dragnet during a special crackdown that lasted 100 days.
The group included one man with 99 convictions who visited bars, threatening owners for free alcohol and food. Another targeted vendors at traditional marketplaces, threatening violence to gain free food.
Among the 5,337 criminals the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency nabbed from March until June 14, there were 219 gang members, 42 of whom were arrested. The gangsters had allegedly been operating a protection racket for 10 bars that offered prostitutes and in a year made over 1.5 billion won ($1.3 million). Charges against them include threatening the owners and using violence to rob them.
Over 82 percent of the gangsters had six convictions or more, while those with no priors accounted for 5 percent, police said. Those in their 20s made up 40 percent, followed by those in their 30s and 40s. Teenagers accounted for 1.4 percent and those in their 50s or older 5 percent.
Excluding the gang members, 77 individuals were arrested. Among them, those in their 50s made up 35 percent, followed by those in their 40s (26 percent) and those in their 30s (20 percent). Teenagers accounted for 1.4 percent.
“Our raid focused on the individual thugs who scare civilians in daily life and the gangsters who illegally interfere with businesses,” a Gyeonggi Nambu police official said.