Korea deports Thai drug kingpin to Thailand

The combined image released on Tuesday shows a Thai suspect being arrested by Korean authorities and later, after his deportation, being escorted by five Thai government officials. Courtesy of National Intelligence Service

Korean authorities have arrested and deported a Thai drug trafficking suspect accused of running an international narcotics operation for more than 25 years to his home country, Seoul's spy agency said Tuesday.

The 44-year-old suspect was arrested at a hotel in southern Seoul the previous day and deported to Thailand earlier in the day at the request of Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), according to the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

According to the ONCB, the suspect is accused of distributing large quantities of narcotics, including 11.5 tons of methamphetamine, 271 million yaba pills and 5 tons of ketamine, across multiple countries.

"The size is unprecedented for a single organization," an NIS official said.

The methamphetamine could supply up to 380 million users, with an estimated value of 4.6 trillion won ($3.1 billion), the NIS said.

The suspect had legally entered Korea using a third-country passport and was staying in Seoul's Gangnam district, it noted.

Thai authorities had issued about 50 arrest warrants for the suspect over the past decade, but he is believed to have continued his criminal activities while evading law enforcement, according to the Thai authorities.