Chinese man behind drug scam targeting teens nabbed in Cambodia

A Chinese national suspected of supplying drugs that were used for a high-profile scam case, where young students were deceived into consuming drug-laced drinks, has been arrested in Cambodia, South Korea's spy agency said Friday.

The National Intelligence Service, which has been probing the case in cooperation with the Cambodian police, said the 38-year-old charged with supplying methamphetamine to the drug ring that produced and distributed the beverages was apprehended in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.

Authorities have been investigating the case in which drug-spiked drinks were distributed to teenage students in Seoul's southern Gangnam Ward in April last year, falsely labeled as beverages that can enhance memory and concentration.

The parents of several students who received the drinks were later blackmailed with demands for money and threats to report their children to the police for drug charges.

Some 700 grams of methamphetamine, enough for about 23,000 doses, were also found at the suspect's hideout in Cambodia, according to the NIS.

The suspect had apparently planned to distribute part of those drugs to China and Korea, it added.

The Chinese supplier is expected to be sentenced in a Cambodian court.

In October, a Seoul court sentenced four men who were charged in the drug scam to heavy prison terms ranging from seven to 15 years. (Yonhap)