Police seek arrest warrants for 58 scam suspects brought from Cambodia

Detained Koreans in Cambodia arrive at Incheon International Airport with a police escort, Saturday. Joint Press Corps

Police said Monday they have sought arrest warrants for 58 suspects repatriated from Cambodia over their alleged involvement in various online scams.

Sixty-four such suspects were flown home from Cambodia on Saturday, and one was arrested immediately with a pre-issued warrant.

Of the remaining 63, four were released soon after, while one was released after the prosecution denied the police's request for an arrest warrant, the National Police Agency (NPA) said.

Courts were scheduled to hold arrest warrant hearings for most of the 58 still in custody, and the results were expected to be out as early as Monday evening.

By region, 45 suspects are being handled by the NPA's South Chungcheong Province office, while 15 are being handled by the North Gyeonggi Province office, including those that have already been released.

The remaining four suspects are being investigated by the Daejeon, Gimpo and Wonju offices, as well as Seoul's Seodaemun office, respectively.

The South Chungcheong office has been conducting investigations into romance and other scams that occurred between the end of last year and last July, while the North Gyeonggi office has been investigating romance scams that took place from March to April.

Since the Cambodian authorities informed the Korean police of their crackdown on local voice phishing call centers from July to September, and the detention of Korean nationals suspected of involvement in the schemes, the NPA has designated the South Chungcheong and North Gyeonggi offices as the main investigation agencies for the crimes.

Police said several repatriated suspects have told investigators they were detained and assaulted by members of scam rings in Cambodia.

All 64 have undergone drug tests with their consent, and all have come back negative, the police said.