Baek Haeryong Criticizes Prosecution for Not Requesting Customs Search Warrants: "Endless Excuses"

Police Superintendent Baek Haeryong, who was dispatched to the joint investigation team of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office for the 'Customs Drug Investigation External Pressure Allegations,' criticized the prosecution for not requesting search and seizure warrants for six locations, including customs offices, saying, "They are just making endless excuses."

Police Superintendent Baek Haeryong is standing in front of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 17th, Superintendent Baek stated, "On December 9, we applied for search and seizure warrants for six locations, including Incheon Airport Customs, to collect basic materials, but Chae Suyang, the head of the joint investigation team at the Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, decided not to request the warrants the previous day." He added, "We applied for the warrants because the evidence was valuable, but they were dismissed without due consideration."

He continued, "An investigation is a process of identifying suspects and collecting evidence, but the head of the joint investigation team seems to be conducting a trial, not an investigation." He pointed out, "This is no different from saying that an investigation should only begin after a guilty verdict has been reached in court."

Superintendent Baek insisted, "The prosecution and the Korea Customs Service must disclose the footage of Malaysian drug organization members entering and leaving the country that we sought to obtain through the search and seizure, the electronic data related to the import declaration for wooden cutting boards used to conceal methamphetamine, the flight records of the drug organization members and the history of their searches, as well as the reasons why the case was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for joint management."