The main perpetrator of the ‘drug beverage’ incident that occurred in the Gangnam 학원가 has been sentenced to 23 years in prison.
According to the legal community on the 8th, the Supreme Court's second division (Chief Justice Oh Kyoung-mi) confirmed the original sentence of 23 years in prison for Lee Mo (28), who was indicted on charges of violating the Narcotic Drugs Control Act (psychotropic).
Lee was indicted for directing the production and distribution of the so-called “drug beverage,” a mixture of methamphetamine and milk, to accomplices both domestically and internationally while staying in China since October 2022.
The accomplices who received instructions from Lee were found to have provided the drug beverage to 13 minors under the guise of a tasting event for a “concentration-enhancing beverage” in the 학원가 of Daechi-dong, Gangnam, in April 2023.
Out of the students who received the beverage, 9 consumed it, and among them, 6 reportedly experienced hallucinations.
They attempted to extort money from the parents of the students who drank the drug beverage by contacting them, but the parents reported it to the police, so they were unable to actually obtain any money.
Lee was apprehended by the public security in Jilin Province, China, about 50 days after the incident in May 2023 and was forcibly repatriated to South Korea in December.
The drug beverage manufacturer, Gil Mo (28), who was indicted first, had his 18-year prison sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court in August of last year.