Four arrested for growing and smoking hemp

SEOUL, March 5 (Yonhap) -- Three Seoul men and an American English instructor
have been arrested for planting hemp in their residences or smoking marijuana,
police said Thursday.
Two of the suspects, identified only by their surnames Yeon and Cho, are
suspected of having cultivated stocks of hemp at the former's apartment in
northern Seoul since July last year, according to police. They are also accused
of smoking the hemp, police said.
Police added that they got information on purchasing and plating cannabis from an
Internet blog run by another suspect, identified only as Jeon, and bought some
Dutch hempseeds at a British website in June.
Jeon is also accused of growing hemp in his house in northeastern Seoul and
smoking marijuana with a U.S. suspect, identified only by his initial J, who
works at a private English institute in South Korea.
Jeon also allegedly sold marijuana to two other Koreans last December, police said.
Under South Korean laws, marijuana users or planters can be sentenced to a
maximum of five years in prison or fined up to 50 million won (US$32,000).
"The four suspects have smoked marijuana several times at their houses,
condominiums and parks and had drug parties," a police officer said.
brk@yna.co.kr
(END)