"Paju Cafe Owner in His 30s Installed Freezer in Advance in Case Hundreds of Billions in Counterfeit Gift Certificates Were Exposed"

Freezer Installed in Advance to Detain Potential Obstruction

It has been discovered that the owner of a cafe in his 30s, who confined and caused the death of a woman in her 60s in a freezer at a cafe in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, had installed the freezer in advance to prepare for potential problems arising from the illegal transaction of counterfeit gift certificates.

A body of a woman in her 60s was found frozen in a cafe freezer in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and the police are investigating. The police have arrested a cafe owner in his 30s as a suspect and are investigating him in custody. The photo shows the cafe where the incident occurred on the 7th. A notice stating that the cafe is closed due to internal circumstances is posted. Photo by Yonhap News

According to Yonhap News on September 14, the Paju Police Station in Gyeonggi Province has referred Mr. A, the cafe owner, to prosecutors under detention on charges of luring and murdering a victim, as well as forging and using counterfeit securities.

The police believe Mr. A attempted to gain financial profit by selling approximately 50 billion won worth of counterfeit gift certificates. The investigation showed that the freezer installed in the cafe was previously prepared for the purpose of confining anyone who might become an obstacle in the process of the gift certificate transactions, should issues arise.

However, the police did not disclose, citing the ongoing investigation, whether Mr. A had drawn up a specific plan when he installed the freezer or whether there was an initial intent to murder.

So far, there are no indications that any other accomplices were involved in the process of killing the victim. However, Mr. B, who served as a link between Mr. A and the victim during the process of forging and trading the gift certificates, has been booked on suspicion of securities forgery and is currently being investigated by the police.

Mr. A is accused of luring Ms. C, a woman in her 60s with whom he had no prior acquaintance, to his cafe, confining her in the freezer, setting the temperature to minus 25 degrees Celsius, and causing her death by hypothermia. It has also been determined that Mr. A made multiple visits to the scene while Ms. C was trapped inside the freezer.

Subsequently, the police arrested Mr. A on the charge of murder by luring. This charge is applied when a lured victim is killed. It carries a heavier statutory punishment than ordinary murder charges, with sentences ranging from life imprisonment to the death penalty, or imprisonment for seven years or more.

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