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A total of 14 individuals have been rounded up by police for illegally administering and taking medical narcotics. It was doctors who issued false prescriptions for narcotics and even administered them at the clinic. It was also revealed that one of the doctors illegally filmed a woman who had fallen asleep after the injection.

Reporter Cho Min-ki has the details.

[Reporter]

Police officers enter a clinic in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, and after presenting a search warrant, thoroughly search the doctor's car trunk and interior door panels.

A total of 14 people, including the clinic's doctors, an administrative chief, and patients, were arrested by police on charges of illegally administering and taking medical narcotics.

Two arrested doctors are accused of illegally administering medical narcotics such as propofol and ketamine 182 times over a two-year period starting in 2021.

Investigators found that they also issued prescriptions to patients who visited the clinic under the guise of cosmetic procedures, charging prices reaching about 32 times the original cost.

The illegal administrations mostly took place in single rooms during late hours after the clinic's operating hours or on days when the clinic was closed. It was further revealed that one of the arrested doctors illegally filmed a patient who had fallen asleep under the influence of drugs 27 times, leading to his recent arrest.

Among the illegal users, there were cases where individuals paid 13.5 million won in a single day, or paid approximately 250 million won across 64 occasions over an 11-month period.

Police stated that the criminal proceeds earned by the doctors reached 457 million won.

[Kang Seon-bong / Head of Narcotics Crime Investigation Unit 1, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency: With the purpose of evading the narcotics monitoring network and maintaining the patients' sleep state for long periods, they simultaneously administered the general anesthetics dexmedetomidine and etomidate alongside existing narcotics.]

Police have forwarded the 14 arrested suspects to the prosecution and requested the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to review the designation of dexmedetomidine as a narcotic, in addition to etomidate, which was already designated as a narcotic last February.

(Photo: Yonhap News / Video reporting: Bae Moon-san, Lee Sang-hak | Video editing: Lee Hong-myeong | Design: Han Heung-su)