Six arrested for smuggling 112kg of meth

Seized bags of meth on display at Seoul Metropolitan Station, Monday. Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

The screw-making machine used in the drug-trafficking operation / Yonhap

Six members of an international drug syndicate have been arrested on charges of smuggling 112 kilograms of meth, police said Monday.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the six, including a Japanese, 32, and a Taiwanese, 25, allegedly colluded in smuggling 112 kilograms of meth into Korea on July 6.

The amount, which is worth about 370 billion won ($327 million), is the largest seizure of the drug in the country.

According to police, 112 bags of the drug were concealed inside a screw-making machine, which was transported from Bangkok to the Busan Port. Two Taiwanese men later moved the machine to a warehouse in Hwaseong, where they took it apart to get the drug.

The two sold 22 kilograms of meth to a Japanese dealer, who eventually sold it to a Korean man for 1.1 billion won.

Police said they were searching for four people believed to have planned the operation and given instructions to the other six.

Police are working with police in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand.