Prosecutors have indicted and detained a Korea Customs Service investigation team leader who abused his authority as a special judicial police officer to take hundreds of millions of won in bribes from drug case suspects.
The Anti-Corruption Investigation Division 2 of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (led by Chief Prosecutor Lee Sang-hyuk) announced Friday that it had indicted and detained A, a former investigation team leader at the Seoul Customs Office under the Korea Customs Service, on charges including violation of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (bribery).
According to prosecutors, in September 2023, A abused his investigative authority as a special judicial police officer to demand bribes from a suspect arrested on an emergency basis for cocaine smuggling and from the suspect's family, offering to conduct the investigation without detention. He received 50 million won and released the suspect, ostensibly to raise funds for cryptocurrency investments. Through 2024, A received a total of 145 million won in bribes from five individuals, including drug smugglers and violators of the Customs Act.
A blatantly demanded bribes from suspects in his cases and their families, telling them, "Drug smuggling is a serious crime that warrants detention, but I'll make sure you're not detained," "I'll make sure your spouse, a university professor, is not booked," and "If you give me cash, I'll just close the case entirely with that money."
The Korea Customs Service filed a complaint against A with the prosecution in August last year on charges of simple bribery solicitation. Considering the gravity of the crime and the risk of repeat offenses, prosecutors launched a direct investigation and uncovered bribery charges beyond those in the original complaint. To this end, prosecutors requested search and seizure warrants five times and traced financial accounts to identify additional offenses. Corruption crimes by special judicial police officers, including bribery, fall under the scope of crimes that prosecutors can directly investigate.
"During the investigation, it was confirmed that the special judicial police officer arbitrarily exercised investigative authority including the initiation and conclusion of investigations and compulsory measures," prosecutors said. "A bill recently passed to establish a prosecution service that would abolish prosecutors' authority to direct and supervise special judicial police is expected to weaken judicial control over them, so sufficient discussion and review are needed in the future institutional design process."
