KB News Desk
A former baseball player was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for smuggling 1.9 kilograms of ketamine into South Korea from Thailand between September and October 2025.
The Busan District Court found the 33-year-old guilty of violating Article 11 of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes. It also ordered him to complete 40 hours of drug rehabilitation education and forfeit 100,000 won ($67).
The court, however, acquitted a 30-year-old software developer accused of acting as an accomplice, citing insufficient evidence.
The two were indicted in February on charges of organizing three smuggling operations in which a combined 1.9 kilograms of ketamine was brought into Korea from Thailand. Prosecutors said they recruited couriers through the encrypted messaging platform Telegram.
Ketamine is an anesthetic that is also abused for its hallucinogenic effects. Prosecutors estimated the street value of the drugs at approximately 100 million won.
Prosecutors alleged that the defendants oversaw a so-called “relay smuggling” operation in which drugs were passed between couriers at locations considered relatively difficult to monitor, including airport restrooms.
They also alleged that the pair unsuccessfully attempted to recruit families traveling with children as couriers, believing they would face less rigorous screening at airports.
The former baseball player was separately charged with using drugs at a club in Thailand between December and January.
During the trial, the court accepted internet search records and cryptocurrency transaction data as evidence. It also found that the former player had attempted to destroy evidence through a third party.
“The nature of the crime is grave,” the court said. “Severe punishment is necessary because drug crimes are difficult to detect due to their covert nature and can contribute to the spread of drug abuse.”
The court acknowledged that the software developer had stayed with the former player for an extended period in Thailand, concealed a mobile phone upon returning to Korea and introduced the former player to an attorney.
It nevertheless ruled that those circumstances were insufficient to prove that the developer had participated in the smuggling operation.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for the former baseball player and a 10-year prison term for the software developer.
Both defendants denied the charges during the trial, with each claiming that the other had been the ringleader.
Investigators first identified the former baseball player while looking into a series of drug-smuggling cases in Incheon, Busan and Daejeon that appeared to employ similar trafficking methods.
According to prosecutors, arrested couriers said the ringleader appeared to be from South Chungcheong Province and seemed to be an “avid fan” of a professional baseball team based in Daejeon.
