Customs Special Judicial Police Officer Sentenced to 9 Years in Prison for Accepting Bribes and Leaking Investigation Details to Drug Offender

A former Korea Customs Service special judicial police officer on trial for accepting over 100 million won in kickbacks from a suspect and their family in exchange for covering up an investigation has been sentenced to a heavy prison term in the first trial.

The Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Settlement Division 22 recently sentenced Park, a former head of the investigation team at the Seoul Customs Office who was indicted on charges of bribery under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, to nine years in prison and a fine of 400 million won.

Sim and Go, who handed the bribes to Park, were sentenced to fines of 5 million won and 10 million won, respectively.

Rebuking Park, the court stated, "Despite holding a position that requires a high level of integrity, he instead abused it," adding, "Park's crimes severely undermined public trust in the fairness of official duties performed by customs investigators."

The court also pointed out, "The methods of the crime were very poor, such as repeatedly depositing the received money in divided sums of 5 million won to evade tracking by the Korea Financial Intelligence Unit, and tipping off a drug offender who paid bribes about the progress of the investigation."

Park is accused of receiving a total of 145 million won from five individuals, including suspects in drug smuggling and Customs Act violations and their family members, in exchange for providing investigative favors.

Investigations showed that Park demanded bribes from the drug smuggling suspects and their family members, telling them, "Drug smuggling is a serious crime that warrants detention, but I will make sure you are not detained," and "If you give me cash, I will use that money to make the case disappear entirely."

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.