Gotta make a living somehow, I guess:
Police arrested the leader and 14 other members of an Uzbekistan organized crime gang yesterday on charges of extorting money from illegal aliens in Korea.
Police in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi province, said that they had taken into custody members of a group called the “Roman” gang. They were charged with running a protection racket and battery. The gang’s leader, Rahim John, is allegedly a member of an Uzbekistan organized crime group. He and five others travelled to Uzbekistan last August and returned with eight more members before forming the “Roman” group in Cheonan.
The gang identified their victims through travel agencies in Vladivostok, Russia, selecting people looking for jobs in Korea. After picking up the job-searchers at the airport, the gang took them to Cheonan, stripped them of their passports and turned them over to factories in the Gyeonggi area. The gang received 231,000 won ($200) per person from the factory, and 115,000 won per month from the workers in exchange for linking them up with the jobs. Since forming the gang last May, the group has amassed around 76 million won from 74 people.
Most of the victims were workers who entered Korea on tourist visas or students whose visas had expired. The gangsters threatened to harm worker’s family members back home if the victims didn’t make their monthly payments.
Read the rest on your own, if you like.
(Thanks, Nathan)
