Three years in prison Swiss senior citizen convicted of meth smuggling in South Korea
An over 80-year-old Swiss man has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison in South Korea for attempted drug smuggling. He had almost three kilos of methamphetamine in his luggage - allegedly without his knowledge.
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- A Swiss man in his 80s has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison in South Korea.
- He is said to have smuggled almost 3 kilograms of methamphetamine.
- The man claimed that he had acted on behalf of an unknown person and was unaware of the drug contents in the suitcase.
A Swiss citizen has been sentenced to prison in South Korea for drug smuggling. The 80-year-old is said to have attempted to smuggle 2.98 kilograms of methamphetamine to the island province of Jeju-do, reports the South Korean newspaper "Korean JoongAng Daily".
The Jeju District Court sentenced the Swiss national to three years and six months in prison.
The man had already been caught on March 30 after he had hidden the methamphetamine in a suitcase at Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia. He gave up the suitcase as flight luggage and tried to bring it to Jeju International Airport via Hong Kong.
8.5 million dollar reward
In court, the defendant's lawyer claimed that the suitcase had been brought to Korea at the request of an unknown person. The Swiss man was not aware that it contained drugs.
According to the report, the defense lawyer explained that the defendant had been contacted via social media by someone claiming to be sending a gift to a Japanese banker. The reward for the delivery of the suitcase is said to have been 8.5 million dollars.
"Strict punishment is necessary"
"Given the circumstances under which the defendant traveled to Cambodia and brought the suitcase with him, it does not appear that he clearly recognized that the suitcase contained drugs," the court stated. Nevertheless, the court concluded that the defendant would have carried out the order even if it had been drugs.
The judge added: "Drug crime not only spreads drugs in society, but also leads to further crime and poses a serious danger to the public. Strict punishment is necessary to prevent drug trafficking at source."
