A man in his twenties, identified only as Mr A, was arrested at his home in a Seoul residential neighbourhood on suspicion of cultivating marijuana.[1][2] The Narcotics Joint Investigation Division of the Suwon Regional Office of the Serious Crime Investigation Agency obtained an arrest warrant on 28 October 2026 and took him at the residence.[1][3][4] On 30 October the Suwon District Court issued a detention warrant, citing a risk that he would flee or destroy evidence, and the division, headed by Superintendent Ahn In-soo, announced the arrest on 31 October.[1]
He is accused of growing cannabis for several years in that home with specialised facilities, under South Korea’s Narcotics Control Act.[1][3][4] Investigators said they identified the case after the Suwon office was established, and that inquiries into possible accomplices were continuing.[1] The Suwon District Prosecution Office asked the court for the detention warrant after the investigation office applied for it.[5][3] A Suwon office official said the scale of the cultivation and other details of the allegation could not be disclosed because the investigation was still under way.[5] He was understood to claim that he had not distributed the cannabis he grew.[6]
The arrest is the Suwon office’s first drug case since it opened.[1][3][4][2][7][8][9] Its narcotics joint investigation division is the only dedicated unit of its kind among regional Serious Crime Investigation Agency offices, formed after the Government Joint Investigation Headquarters for Drug Crimes under the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office was dissolved.[1][3] The division brings together 43 people from the investigation agency, the police, the Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters and customs.[1][10]
Investigators also obtained a court warrant for his accomplice, a second man in his 20s identified as B.[2][11] The two men are accused of leasing the fourth floor of a building in a Seongbuk residential area and growing cannabis there in large volumes from around January last year until recently.[2][10][12][7][13][14][9][15][16][11] Investigators found that they purchased cannabis-growing equipment through overseas direct-purchase websites.[2][10][13][9][15][17][11] Authorities seized about 1.1 kilograms of cannabis worth 170 million won at the site, described as enough for 3,700 people to use at once.[2][7][14][9][15][16][17][11]
On 1 November 2026 the Suwon District Court issued a detention warrant for Mr A, a man in his 20s charged with violating the Narcotics Control Act, citing risk of flight, after issuing a warrant for the other suspect Mr B on 30 October.[10][13][18][9]
Investigators seized 33 cannabis plants still being grown at the rented fourth-floor site, a figure not published in the earlier coverage of the case.[19][20][16][17][11] The Suwon Serious Crime Investigation Agency announced on 5 November 2026 that it had sent both men to prosecutors in custody on suspicion of violating the Narcotics Control Act.[19][20][16][17][11] The agency said the referral was the first case its narcotics joint investigation division had investigated itself and handed to prosecutors since the division was set up.[19][17][11] An official of the division said the case showed that cannabis-growing facilities had spread to the middle of Seoul and that the unit would keep working with other agencies against drug crime.[19][16][11] The division is the only dedicated joint narcotics investigation unit among the regional Serious Crime Investigation Agency offices, created to succeed the former Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office drug investigation headquarters.[19][11] It brings together 43 people from the investigation agency, the police, the Immigration and Foreign Policy Headquarters and the customs service.[19][11]
Both men were 29 years old.[20][17] The two were friends.[20][17]