50s Woman Smuggled Cocaine Hidden in Waxed Hair Removal Products from Brazil
Incheon District Court Acquits Contrary to Jury Verdict
A woman in her 50s who was deceived by an email claiming "I will help you receive a large deposit in an overseas bank account" and transported drugs was acquitted.
On the 10th, Yonhap News reported that the Criminal Division 15 of Incheon District Court (Chief Judge Ryu Ho-jung) acquitted Ms. A (51, female), who was indicted on drug charges under the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes, in a citizen trial.
In March, Ms. A received an absurd email from an unknown person. The email stated, "There is $10 million (13.8 billion KRW) deposited in an overseas bank account under your name. You are included in the beneficiary list, so you will receive all the money." The sender instructed, "Go to S?o Paulo, Brazil, and sign the 'fund transfer documents,'" and "Then take the documents to Cambodia, submit them to a local bank, and collect the $10 million." The sender demanded a fee for assisting with the transaction, and Ms. A replied, "I will share 1% (130 million KRW) of the money received."
Defendant A was caught importing cocaine in the form of hair removal wax from Brazil [Photo by Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, Yonhap News]
Ms. A's coworkers who heard this said, "It sounds like a scam," but Ms. A thought that the cryptocurrency she had invested in the past might have generated a large profit somewhere unknown to her. Eventually, she boarded a flight to Brazil a month later. At the end of April, Ms. A departed from Korea, stopped over in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and arrived in S?o Paulo the next day. In S?o Paulo, she met another unknown person and received a travel bag. This person said the contents of the bag were "a gift for a bank employee in Cambodia."
Ms. A checked the travel bag as checked luggage in S?o Paulo and boarded a passenger plane, intending to go to Cambodia via Incheon International Airport, but was caught by Korean customs officers. This was because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), having obtained intelligence that she was transporting drugs, informed Korean customs. Investigation revealed that the travel bag Ms. A checked contained 5.7 kg of cocaine worth 1.12 billion KRW. The cocaine was specially made into 100 block-shaped hair removal wax pieces, making it difficult to recognize as drugs at a glance.
The prosecution arrested and indicted Ms. A in May, claiming she knowingly committed the crime with drugs in the travel bag, and even released a press statement to the media about the case. However, Ms. A claimed in court, "I had no idea that the travel bag I received in Brazil contained cocaine," and "I had no intention to smuggle drugs."
The court judged that it was possible Ms. A was deceived and unknowingly transported drugs. In the citizen trial, all seven jurors expressed the opinion that Ms. A should be found guilty.
However, the court's judgment was different. The court stated, "The defendant received a clearly unreliable proposal but went abroad without proper verification," and "Considering various circumstances, there is suspicion that the defendant knowingly brought drugs in the travel bag into the country." It added, "The person who first sent the email to the defendant attached a forged document along with a copy of their passport," and explained, "It cannot be concluded that no one would fall for such a scam."
Furthermore, the court said, "The defendant asked the other party, 'Can't I just sign the PDF file and send the documents without going abroad?' which is something one would not say or do if they thought it was a scam," and explained the reason for acquittal, stating, "The defendant's claim that 'I thought the cryptocurrency I invested in might have generated a large profit' cannot be simply dismissed."
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