In brief
In a notable case in South Korea, a 90-year-old woman has been sentenced to a year in prison for laundering over 386 million won (approximately $260,800) of her son's drug money. The court highlighted her awareness of her son's illicit activities, particularly since he has been incarcerated in Cambodia for drug trafficking since 2020. Though the court considered her age and lack of prior convictions in sentencing, the judgment emphasizes the seriousness of her actions in hindering law enforcement efforts against narcotics. Furthermore, her son allegedly implicated his daughter in similar charges, raising additional questions about the family's involvement in drug-related crimes.
A 90-year-old woman in South Korea has been sentenced to a year in jail for helping her son to launder profits from drug trafficking. The woman, unnamed in local media reports, received a total of 386 million won ($260,800; £192,800) over nine occasions between April 2020 and February 2022, which she transferred to a designated account at her son's direction, an Incheon court heard. Her son, known as Song in the reports, has been imprisoned in Cambodia since 2020, after he was convicted of trafficking methamphetamine into the country.Given that Song's mother visited Cambodia five times in 2019 and knew when her son was detained, she would be aware that she was dealing with illicit funds, the court heard on Monday. 'Her actions made it harder to trace illicit profits and contributed to the spread of narcotics, rendering the offence particularly serious,' judge Wi Eun-suk of an Incheon district court said on Monday.The court took the woman's age into account in deciding her sentence, as well as the fact that she did not have any prior drug-related convictions. South Korean authorities are seeking to extract Song from Cambodia, according to local reports. Song, who is in his 60s, allegedly implicated his daughter as well, Seoul-based Kyunghyang newspaper reported. His daughter was brought to trial on charges of receiving more than 600 million won of illicit funds and transferring 274 million of it. However, she was later acquitted of money laundering as the court found there was insufficient evidence to conclude she had knowledge that the money was derived from drug trafficking.
