Korean accused of $3.6bn cocaine shipments hid in Ghana for 22 years before deportation

Ghana has deported to South Korea a man in his 80s accused of shipping more than five tonnes of cocaine on the high seas off South America, ending 22 years in which he lived in Ghana without legal status, South Korean police say.

The Korean National Police Agency said the man, whose identity it withheld, was brought back to South Korea on 20 October and arrived in a wheelchair. Ghanaian police arrested him for illegal residence with help from the South Korean Embassy in Accra before he was deported, according to Korean media reports of the police statement. The handover comes as the two countries widen their cooperation ahead of 50 years of diplomatic relations in 2027, with South Korea’s ambassador, Park Kyongsig, counting maritime security among the areas agreed when President John Mahama visited South Korea in March.

Korean police say that between 2002 and 2004, while serving as the supervisor of an ocean-going fishing vessel, he moved narcotics for a trafficking organisation on five occasions in international waters off South America and was paid for the shipments. The cargo is believed to have been 5,385 kilogrammes of cocaine, worth about 4.8 trillion won, or US$3.6 billion.

When the accomplices who had been on board with him were prosecuted, he fled to Ghana, where he lived as an undocumented migrant from around 2004. The Busan Coast Guard had him placed under an Interpol red notice, and the police agency located him through information shared with the Ghana Police Service. Ghanaian police have worked on international cases before: in July, they and the Cyber Security Authority arrested a Nigerian wanted in an FBI and INTERPOL cyber-fraud investigation.

Korean authorities have not said where in Ghana he lived, what he did during his 22 years here, or when he was arrested, and Ghanaian authorities have not given their own account of the case.

South Korea’s police and coast guard said they would pursue fugitives wanted for serious maritime crimes to the end and deal with them sternly. The Busan Coast Guard will question him about how the shipments were arranged, how much he was paid and his links to the trafficking organisation.