Police are investigating whether a city bus driver in his 40s, who was arrested for drunk driving and subsequently found with methamphetamine consumption paraphernalia in his vehicle, drove a bus while under the influence of drugs.

Police apprehended a Chinese national in his 40s, identified as A, on charges of drunk driving at around 3:50 a.m. on July 23 inside a car parked on a road in Danwon-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.

Responding to a citizen report stating that a driver was suspected of drunk driving, officers found A asleep in a vehicle that was blocking the middle of the road and refusing to move.

Police arrested A on the spot after finding that his blood alcohol concentration level was high enough to warrant the revocation of his driver's license, and during a search of the vehicle's interior, they discovered methamphetamine consumption tools.

A preliminary drug test on A yielded a positive result for methamphetamine.

A admitted to the charges, stating, "I bought and used methamphetamine a few days ago," and reportedly revealed his occupation as a "city bus driver."

In response, police contacted the bus company where A reportedly worked to confirm his actual employment status and secured relevant materials, including work logs.

The company reportedly had no knowledge of A's methamphetamine use.

The investigation revealed that A purchased small quantities of methamphetamine via social media approximately 10 times from late May until recently.

Although A claimed, "I only used methamphetamine on my days off," police stated that this statement alone does not rule out the possibility of driving under the influence of drugs, and are investigating the exact dates and times when A received and consumed methamphetamine.

Given that city bus operations begin early in the morning, police noted that even if the drugs were consumed on a day off, the effects may have persisted into subsequent working hours.

Previously, in August 2018, a tour bus driver was arrested by police in Goseong-gun, Gangwon Province, on charges of using methamphetamine inside a vehicle.

In 2017, a city bus driver who smoked marijuana was also caught in Dong-gu, Busan.

According to the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, the number of commercial transport worker licenses revoked for violations of the Narcotics Control Act reached 721 cases from 2018 to June 2023.

Reported by Jung Da-eun | Video by Ahn Jun-hyeok | Graphics by Yook Do-hyun | Produced by SBS Digital News