Mastermind of drugged drink blackmail caper gets 23 years in jail

The mastermind of a blackmail scheme that involved giving drugged drinks to students in Seoul last year was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Tuesday.

The drink concocted with methamphetamine, which Lee produced and distributed to students in Daechi-dong in Gangnam, eastern Seoul, last year. [SEOUL GANGNAM POLICE PRECINCT]

The mastermind of a blackmail scheme that involved giving drugged drinks to students in Seoul last year was sentenced to 23 years in prison on Tuesday.

In April 2023, the 27-year-old man surnamed Lee hired individuals to offer free drinks to students on the streets of Daechi-dong in Seoul's Gangnam District, known for its concentration of private cram schools.

The Seoul Central District Court handed Lee 23 years of imprisonment on Tuesday for orchestrating the production and distribution of drugged beverages, violating the Enforcement Decree of the Narcotics Control Act.

A total of 18 out of 100 drugged drinks were given to students by part-timers, who claimed they were concentration-boosting concoctions. Nine people — eight students and one parent — consumed them and fell ill.

The drinks were found to contain 0.1 grams of methamphetamine.

The hired part-timers also collected the parent's contact information, and Lee's gang demanded money from the parents, threatening to report the children to the police for drugs.

"The defendant threatened parents after distributing drugged drinks and exploited minors for profit," the court said in its ruling, condemning his actions as highly reprehensible and mean-spirited.

However, the court said the sentence considered mitigating factors such as Lee's admission of his crimes, his remorse and the ultimate failure of his threats.

Lee's accomplices are currently serving sentences.

They include 27-year-old Gil, who distributed the drugged drinks to the part-timers. His sentence was raised from 15 to 18 years in the second trial.

The court also increased the sentence of 40-year-old Kim, who assisted in making calls to the parents using a system that converted internet phone numbers from China to local numbers, from eight to 10 years in prison.

Other gang members, including 37-year-old Park, a Chinese national who delivered 10 grams of methamphetamine, and 42-year-old Lee, who assembled the voice phishing ring, received sentences of 10 and seven years, respectively.

According to police, Lee fled to China in October 2022 while still on trial for blackmail at Suwon District Court. There, he planned this voice phishing scam using drugs.

Police asked Interpol to issue a red notice, and Chinese authorities apprehended Lee in Jilin, China, in May 2023.

Chinese authorities deported Lee in December.

BY CHOI SEO-IN, WOO JI-WON [woo.jiwon@joongang.co.kr]