Police hunting for Chinese meth cooks

Raw materials and devices used to produce methamphetamine displayed at Busan Police Station, Monday. Courtesy of Busan Police Station

By Jung Min-ho

Police are looking for two Chinese men, who have fled Korea after allegedly trying to make a massive amount of methamphetamine here.

Busan police said Monday that they had arrested a Korean man, surnamed Park, for playing a leading role in conspiring and attempting to make 10 kilograms of the illicit drug, which would be worth about 30 billion won ($27 million).

Seven other Koreans are also being investigated.

According to police, Park offered three Chinese meth production experts, known as “cooks,” work at a drug lab at Hongseong in South Chungcheong Province early this year.

Their plan was to make meth with ephedrine and other raw materials and sell it in Korea and Japan.

However, their plan started to fall apart when one of the three cooks ― the most advanced one ― pulled out for personal reasons.

The two Chinese tried to make meth without him, but failed. Around that time, one of the Korean members, surnamed Kang, was arrested over other crimes.

Police said they were seeking the cooperation of the National Intelligence Service and Chinese authorities to catch the Chinese suspects.

China is reportedly a major source of meth expertise, which is used to produce the synthetic drug that is being smuggled into the Philippines.

Police are worried that Chinese cooks have started making inroads into Korea.