SEOUL; A man in his 80s, suspected of transporting more than five tonnes of narcotics aboard a fishing vessel in waters off South America in the early 2000s, has been repatriated to South Korea after spending 22 years on the run, police said on Monday.
The Korean National Police Agency said the man, whose identity was withheld, was brought back to South Korea on Oct 20 in coordination with the Busan Coast Guard after being deported by authorities in Ghana, where he had been hiding for about 22 years.
The man is accused of transporting narcotics on behalf of a drug trafficking organisation on five separate occasions in international waters off South America between 2002 and 2004, when he was serving as a supervisor on a deep-sea fishing vessel, and receiving payment for the shipments.
The KNPA said the transported narcotics are believed to have amounted to 5,385 kilogrammes of cocaine worth about 4.8 trillion won (US$3.6 billion). The suspect fled to Ghana after his accomplices were arrested and lived there as an undocumented immigrant from around 2004.
His repatriation came after the Busan Coast Guard placed him on Interpol's wanted list and the KNPA confirmed his whereabouts through information-sharing with the Ghanaian police. Korea Herald/ANN
