South Korean police have sniffed out a total of 11
billion won ($10.1 million) in cash buried in remote garlic fields
and have confiscated the haul, officers said Tuesday.
TV footage showed plastic containers brimming with jaw-dropping
wads of cash being excavated one after another in the southwestern
city of Gimje.
Two brothers who had made the money from an illegal Internet
gambling operation asked their brother-in-law surnamed Lee to hide
the cash as police began closing in on them, media reports
said.
One brother is now in jail while the other is still at
large.
Lee, 53, bought the garlic field and buried the cash at dusk or
dawn, pretending to be working on the land. But he later dug up
about 400 million won and spent it, without telling the brothers he
had helped himself.
Because one brother was about to be released from jail, Lee
allegedly tried to blame the lost cash on an excavator operator
working on the land. But the operator reported the case to police
who unearthed the buried bonanza.
Police said Tuesday they are seeking an arrest warrant for
Lee.
News media said the case underscored the need to crack down on
widespread illegal online gambling sites which are based
offshore.