Prosecutors Seek 10-Year Prison Sentence for Former Professional Baseball Player on Drug Smuggling Charges from Thailand

Also Accused of Methamphetamine Use in Thailand

Prosecutors have requested a heavy sentence for a man in his 30s, a former professional baseball player, who has been put on trial on charges of smuggling drugs into the country.

According to Yonhap News on June 16, at the sentencing hearing for violations of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (related to psychotropic substances) and other charges, held at the Busan District Court Criminal Division 7 (Presiding Judge Lim Ju-hyuk), prosecutors asked the court to sentence Mr. A, the former professional baseball player, to 10 years in prison. For Mr. B, a program developer in his 30s who was an accomplice, prosecutors considered his involvement to be more serious and requested a life sentence.

The scene of drug delivery at Incheon Airport disclosed by the Busan District Prosecutors' Office. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

Mr. A and Mr. B are alleged to have been ringleaders of a drug trafficking organization and to have smuggled approximately 1.9 kilograms of ketamine (worth about 120 million won) on three separate occasions from Thailand between September and October of last year. Prosecutors believe they orchestrated so-called "relay smuggling" operations, in which drugs were exchanged within seconds at airports in Incheon and Thailand, and brought them to trial based on these allegations.

Separately, Mr. A is also accused of administering methamphetamine once at a club in Thailand between December of last year and January of this year. Mr. A is known to have previously been active as a professional baseball pitcher.

However, both individuals denied the drug smuggling charges during the trial. They are also reported to have argued that the other was the ringleader of the organization. Mr. A has admitted to the charge of drug use.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.