INCHEON, South Korea: South Korea has repatriated 73 people suspected of involvement in online scam operations in Cambodia and will question them over allegations they had defrauded more than 800 South Koreans of about US$33 million, officials said.
The plane carrying the suspects, the largest such group to be returned so far, landed at Incheon International Airport on Friday (Jan 23).
Footage from South Korean broadcasters showed the suspected scammers, wearing masks and mostly clad in shorts and sandals, being escorted by police from the plane to a waiting bus.
“It’s a big mistake if you think you can evade punishment if you commit a crime outside the country,” a South Korean police official told a briefing at the airport.
“We will pursue crimes that harm our citizens to the end and demand that they take responsibility.”
A foreign ministry official told the briefing that South Korea would continue to cooperate with Cambodia “until transnational scam crimes were eradicated”.
The return of the group follows a joint investigation by both nations, a spokesperson for the Korean presidential office, Kang Yu-jung, told a separate briefing on Thursday.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/south-korea-repatriates-73-scam-suspects-cambodia-fraud-5878176
