By You know I should be shocked by this news, but I am not:
Seoul police are investigating how a South Korean man was allegedly able to run a weapons smuggling ring for 12 years and sell stolen U.S. military guns and ammunition out of a warehouse in central Seoul, a police spokesman said Thursday.
Police arrested the 30-year-old man, identified only by his last name, Moon, and two other men in January and accused them of illegally obtaining and smuggling military equipment believed to have come from U.S. military bases in South Korea. Police announced the arrests Thursday.
Police said they raided Moon’s warehouse in Seoul’s Dongdaemun district after getting a tip and conducting a long stakeout. They said they found about 1,000 weapons and pieces of ammunition, including M-16 rifle rounds, M-60 machine-gun barrels, bayonets, smoke shells, grenades, bulletproof helmets and vests, mine detectors, night-vision goggles and lenses, and parts needed to make firearms.
Much of the equipment was labeled “Property of U.S. Government.”
Seoul police and the U.S. military’s Criminal Investigation Command are still investigating where the weapons came from and how they were sold, the spokesman said.
U.S. Forces Korea spokeswoman Col. Jane Crichton said she had not received information about the arrests as of Friday afternoon.
Moon sold the equipment in person and on the Internet to ammunition collectors and “survival game” operators, Seoul police allege. Survival games, where participants are taken to remote areas and fight pretend wars, usually with plastic guns, are highly popular in South Korea among university students, online gamers and other groups. Businesses often pay for their employees to participate in the mock battles as a bonding experience.
The police spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some of the weapons may have been used to commit crimes.
“[The] warehouse looked like an exhibition displaying all the military equipment,” he said. [Ashley Rowland & Hwang Hae-rym - Stars & Stripes]
Considering the amount of corruption in Korea that surrounds the stationing of US forces in the country that is why I don’t find this surprising. This is not even the first time that corruption involving ammunition has been uncovered. This is the first time I have seen corruption involving USFK weaponry though. What is really pathetic about this is that this guy was stealing weapons, ammunition, gear, and even explosives for 12 years! There has to be a much larger circle of corruption surrounding this guy to get a way with this for so long.
Something else I wondering about is that I can understand NVG’s and other equipment being bought by survival game operators, but who is buying the weapons and explosives? Is it possible that these weapons were being sold to these guys?
6:05 am on May 24th, 2009 1
UH OH, looks like this blogger's revered opinion about the status of the USFK is called into question…
Obviously, there were some corrupt, dare I say, white male army people involved…and definitely not just the low-ranking type…
11:19 am on May 24th, 2009 2
"Obviously, there were some corrupt, dare I say, white male army people involved…and definitely not just the low-ranking type…"
White males are a minority in the quartermasters. You must have some inside info to narrow it down to one sex and race.
12:05 pm on May 24th, 2009 3
I'm not saying he was a member of the "Good Neighbor Program" but I'm guessing he at least knew someone who was. What does anyone want to bet he's played a few rounds on USFK golf courses?
12:14 pm on May 24th, 2009 4
"Revered Opinion"? What do you base that off of? You comment about white people is especially humorous because I take it you didn't even bother to click the links I provided.
I have been following USFK corruption longer than anyone else on the Internet. You might want to do a little research on the site before making misinformed comments.
1:10 pm on May 24th, 2009 5
After consideration, I'm thinking this is more hype than substance.
This "weapons smuggling ring" actually sold a lot of not-particularly-dangerous crap.
None of these items are terribly hard to come by nor, unlike juicy bars or black marketing, do they require institutionalized corruption to obtain.
I love scrounging in a junk shop as much as anyone… and around every post/base, there are open sales of much of this… including more sensitive stuff if they trust you or you happen to see them hide it when you walk in.
I'm guessing this guy just went around to these shop with a list of what he could sell easily and said what he would pay for it… and ask them to set aside anything interesting or unusual so he could have first crack at it.
These shops are mostly supplied by on-base Koreans who lift anything that isn't tied down that might be worth a few won to somebody outside the main gate… as it has been for the last 60 years. A few things (like Gore-tex jackets) are semi-institutionally supplied by the Supply Mafia (which IS a major USFK problem they refuse to effectively take care of).
Let's look…
"M-16 rifle rounds, M-60 machine-gun barrels, bayonets, smoke shells, grenades, bulletproof helmets and vests, mine detectors, night-vision goggles and lenses, and parts needed to make firearms"
Stray rounds and worn-out barrels slip through the cracks… as do bayonets and, perhaps, "smoke shells". Grenades are a different story… and, as there wasn't particular emphasis places upon such a serious item, I would guess they are inert. Helmets and vests are all over the place on the local economy… not sure about mine detectors. NVGs are interesting as they are pretty highly accounted for.
"Parts needed to make firearms" doesn't say much… but it doesn't mean much either. Everything short of a rifled barrel can be made with hand tools… ergo, a manhole cover is just a bolt waiting to be cut, filed and drilled.
In the end, more clarity is important to gauge the importance of this story.
…"about 1,000 weapons and pieces of ammunition" is not so impressive if it includes a rusty M1 carbine bayonet and 998 used blanks from the last excercise.
8:16 pm on May 24th, 2009 6
While at Fort Hood one of the soldiers in my unit was smuggling NVG parts and building them from scratch and sell them. He would take a pair of broke NVGs and order parts against it. He would then return the NVGs to the line unit (still broke) and build his pair from the new parts. The only thing that was accounted for were the lens which we are still unsure how aquired them. He was caught and is still serving 15years. This explained why when I turned in equipment to support unit's I would get it back just as broke if not more!
8:23 pm on May 24th, 2009 7
Nothing listed was an actual end item- the author didn't specify what "weapons" were found…the serial numbered receiver is the "weapon"- all else is spare parts. You can buy many of them online, same with bayonets.
If a soldier sold spare parts then that's theft, plain and simple. But calling this arms smuggling is a real stretch.