Former baseball player gets 10 years for ketamine smuggling
A Busan court sentenced a former professional baseball player to 10 years in prison for smuggling 1.9 kilograms of ketamine into Korea, while acquitting a software developer tried alongside him.
A software developer who was indicted alongside the former player was acquitted after the court found insufficient evidence to prove involvement in the crime.
Prosecutors had sought a 10-year prison sentence for the former player and life imprisonment for the developer, whom they argued had played a more significant role in the offense.
The two were indicted on charges of acting as leaders of a drug trafficking ring that smuggled 1.9 kilograms of ketamine into Korea in three shipments from Thailand between September and October last year.
The former player was also charged with using methamphetamine once at a nightclub in Thailand between December last year and January this year.
Bags of ketamine confiscated by the Gwangjin Police Precinct are seen on May 8, 2025. The image is not related to the article.JOONGANG ILBO
The court found the former player guilty of the smuggling charges, citing internet and map search records, cryptocurrency investment transactions that were inconsistent with ordinary foreign exchange trading and evidence suggesting an attempt to destroy evidence through another person.
"The offense involved bringing a large quantity of narcotics into Korea, making it an extremely serious crime," the court said. "Drug crimes are carried out covertly, making them difficult to detect and creating the potential for a large number of drug users."
The court found circumstantial evidence that the developer had participated in the crime, including staying with the former player for an extended period, hiding the former player's mobile phone during their return to Korea and introducing a lawyer.
The court, however, ruled that circumstantial evidence alone was insufficient to establish guilt.
"Statements made to investigative authorities that could have served as the basis for a conviction are all inadmissible as evidence, and the former player has also been unable to describe any specific acts of involvement by the developer," the court said.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
