SEOUL, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Seventy-three South Korean suspects, who have been detained in Cambodia over alleged involvement in scam crimes, will be forcibly returned home, the presidential Blue House said Thursday.
Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told a press briefing that a joint investigation team will forcibly repatriate 73 South Korean suspects on Friday morning, as they were accused of defrauding 869 South Koreans of about 48.6 billion won (about 33.1 million U.S. dollars) based in Cambodia.
Kang said it would mark the largest repatriation of criminal suspects, stressing that it was the result of a long-term pursuit by the joint investigation team composed of South Korean and Cambodian police as well as the National Intelligence Service.
The investigation team raided seven scam complexes in Sihanoukville, Poipet and Mondulkiri of Cambodia to round up the suspects.
Kang said all of the repatriated suspects, for whom arrest warrants were already issued, will be handed over to the investigative authorities upon their arrival for thorough investigations and subsequent legal processing, adding that the authorities will forfeit criminal proceeds by tracking down the suspects' hidden assets to the end. ■
