[Anchor]

Staff at a dermatology clinic in Gangnam have been arrested one after another on charges of illegally administering propofol to patients. It is reported that they recruited customers through social media and accepted only cash payments.

Reporter Lim Ji-hyun has the story.

[Reporter]

Last March, several police officers entered a building housing a dermatology clinic in Gangnam, Seoul.

When they opened a small refrigerator, they discovered a large stash of syringes filled with a cloudy white liquid—medical-grade propofol.

The police conducted the search and seizure after uncovering evidence that the clinic had been illegally administering propofol since June of last year.

The clinic is currently closed.

The illegal administration of the drug reportedly took place secretly in the clinic's procedure rooms, both day and night.

Police found that the clinic did not maintain medical records and required a minimum cash payment of 300,000 won per session.

Approximately 28 million won in cash was found in the hospital safe, and the total profit generated from illegal propofol administration over nine months is estimated to be 200 million won.

Police also discovered that the clinic manager used a list of customers obtained from a previous workplace for solicitation and actively recruited people for illegal injections through social media advertisements.

[Park Hyun-chul / Chief of Detective Division, Suwon Jangan Police Station: It was confirmed that they promoted the clinic through an app, guided the customers who visited after seeing the posts about propofol administration, and then proceeded with the injections.]

Furthermore, the manager and one nurse involved are already suspects under investigation for illegal propofol use while working at a different dermatology clinic previously.

Six hospital staff members have been arrested so far, and 12 individuals have been identified as having received illegal injections.

Police have arrested two people, including the clinic director and the manager, on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act. They are currently investigating the specific details of the crimes, including whether the propofol used for illegal injections was leftover stock from legitimate medical procedures.

(Video reporting: Lee Sang-hak | Video editing: Jung Yong-hwa)