886 foreigners caught during 100-day crackdown

By Kim Jae-heun

A total of 886 foreigners were apprehended for violence and illegal gambling among other crimes during a 100-day crackdown that started mid-July, with 89 being detained, according to police, Sunday.

The crackdown _ between July 16 and Oct. 23 _ targeted foreign nationals involved in violent organized crime as well as those smuggling drugs and offering gambling.

According to the National Police Agency, out of 402 cases, assault and violent crime ranked top with 115, followed by gambling at 89, drug trafficking with 81 cases and counterfeiting fourth with 53.

Most of the violence involved physical fights between foreigners, alongside acts of vandalism, while intoxicated.

Police enforced organized crime laws on foreigners engaged in sex trafficking and loan-sharking at local casinos.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said they arrested nine foreigners and detained one, for loaning gambling money to Chinese tourists at a hotel casino in July and assaulting those who failed to pay them back.

They also arrested 23 Chinese for smuggling methamphetamine into Korea in October.

In foreigner-concentrated-districts, police raided private gambling houses and illegal arcades. Foreigners illegally reproducing bankbooks and distributing unregistered cars were also arrested.

A group of foreigners bought a burnout imported car for 500,000 won and sold it to a customer in Russia illegally. Fifteen have been arrested and two were detained.

"We maximized our crackdown in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice and police agencies overseas. We will continue to control crimes by foreigners to secure the peace and safety of the nation," an officer said.

According to the police agency, the number of crimes committed by foreigners between January and October of this year decreased by 5.3 percent, compared to the same period last year. In particular, murder declined by 22.7 percent and robbery by 31.9 percent.

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