Police Sent Letters to Prison After Complaint Questioning Why Drug Buyer Was Not Punished

[Anchor]

A drug dealer currently serving time in prison filed a prison civil complaint questioning why the buyer who purchased drugs from him was not being punished. In response, the detective in charge sent handwritten letters directly to the prison. Controversial details were found in these letters obtained by our reporting team.

First, an exclusive report by reporter Dong Eunyeong.

[Reporter]

Another man, surnamed Lee, repeatedly appears in the sentencing record of 53-year-old Roh, who has been serving time in prison since February of last year for illegal methamphetamine transactions.

Lee is an individual who attempted to buy methamphetamine from Roh for 1.1 million won in January of the year before last, purchased methamphetamine for 3.2 million won in February of the same year, and received a free sample of methamphetamine the following month.

Discovering that Lee had not been punished or even booked, unlike himself who had been serving time for nearly a year and a half, Roh filed complaints with the Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission and the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office last April.

[Shin Al-chan / Lawyer: When drugs are traded, there is no case where only one side is exempt from punishment. It means that for over two years, he was not even booked and was not given the status of a suspect. That is practically burying the case.]

Then, in less than a week, a letter arrived at the prison. The sender was none of other than a detective from the narcotics investigation team at the Seoul Songpa Police Station who had investigated the case involving Roh and Lee.

In the letter, the detective wrote that because Lee was being investigated for another drug case around a similar time, "it was viewed as a comprehensive single crime and a separate investigation into that specific case was not initiated."

Unconvinced by this explanation, Roh filed another complaint, prompting the detective to send another letter to the prison.

The stance completely reversed from the letters sent three weeks prior, stating, "We are conducting a pre-booking investigation regarding Lee," and "Please use this for reference as we will provide intermediate notices on the investigation progress."

A week later, the final letter stated, "We plan to forward Lee's case to the prosecution within this month," adding, "There is no longer any need to file a petition."

According to SBS reporting, the Seoul Songpa Police Station actually forwarded Lee's case to the prosecution in mid-May. Controversy is growing as it has been revealed that the police failed to even book an individual with confirmed drug-related charges for more than two years since the incident occurred.

(Video reporting: Lee Sang-hak, Video editing: Kim Yoon-sung, Design: Park Chun-woong)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.