Taiwanese man jailed for six years after smuggling methamphetamine for promised $1 million

A Taiwanese man in his 70s has been sentenced to six years in prison after bringing about 5.1 kilograms of methamphetamine into South Korea from Cambodia.

The Busan District Court's Criminal Division 5 convicted him of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. The drugs had an estimated street value of about 511.3 million won.

Investigators said the man received a suitcase containing three backpacks packed with methamphetamine outside a hotel in Cambodia on March 22. He checked the suitcase as baggage, traveling from Siem Reap through Hanoi before arriving the following day at Gimhae International Airport.

During the trial, he said a person claiming to be a British employee of the International Monetary Fund had offered him $1 million to deliver an item for money laundering. He said he believed the suitcase contained a security token needed for money laundering, not methamphetamine.

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If you deliver an item for money laundering, I will give you $1 million.