POLICE ROUND UP MINORS FOR EXTORTION

[Anchor Lead]

A group that lured men, induced physical contact with minors, and then extorted over KRW 220 million by threatening to report them, has been arrested by the police. The crime was committed by a group of men in their 20s and female high school students, who divided roles among themselves. Among the accomplices was a middle school student.

[Pkg]

Late at night, four men and women enter a hotel after arranging a casual meeting for some drinks through an online chat room. Except one man, three of them are acquaintances. One of them is a teenage girl. As soon as the man makes physical contact with the teenager, a man claiming to be the girl's elder brother appears. After threatening to report the man to the police, the group received money from him and left. A similar incident happened at a different hotel. This time, the victim was down on his knees in front of the man claiming to be the girl's brother. The group led men to make physical contact with the underage girl and then demanded money from the victims after threatening to report the incident to the police. The group is accused of committing the crime in the capital area over a period of five months. There are 11 known victims so far. Gyeonggi Ansan Sangnok Police caught 12 members of the racketeering ring. Seven of them were detained and handed over to the prosecution. In the group, there were five female minors, including a middle school girl. Each of them had different roles from enticement and threatening. The group extorted some 220 million won from the victims.

[Soundbite] Kim Tae-woong(Gyeonggi Ansan Sangnok Police Station) : "We will carry out an additional probe into the degree of the physical contact the victims made to the girls as well as the teenagers' involvement."

While checking if there are more victims, police plan to look into whether the victims' meetings with underage girls for drinks constitute as a crime.