Undercover police investigation nabs suitcase suspect
A woman arrested in South Korea over the deaths of two children whose bodies were found in suitcases was found ‘‘hiding in an apartment’’ by an undercover police investigation, Korean media are reporting.
South Korean police have arrested the woman in relation to the remains, which were found on August 11 in Manurewa, South Auckland. She will face two charges of murder.
The 42-year-old woman was arrested at 1am Korean time (4am NZ time) yesterday in Ulsan, a city on Korea’s southeast coast, according to YTN, a Korean 24-hour news channel.
New Zealand police would not confirm those details when asked about them.
Korean media have reported that detectives at Ulsan Central police station conducted an undercover investigation to find the woman, after receiving intelligence and checking CCTV.
Yonhap News Agency said the extradition process would take two months to complete in the South Korean courts.
According to South Korean news website Edaily, the woman was arrested after a ‘‘persistent pursuit’’.
Local police said she was suspected of committing ‘‘crimes against humanity’’.
They had made the arrest based on ‘‘close co-operation’’ with Interpol and New Zealand police and would continue to ‘‘strengthen’’ their co-operation, the website reported. New Zealand has requested the woman be extradited back to Aotearoa to face the charges and that she remain in custody during the extradition process.
The woman was arrested under a warrant from Korean Courts after police contacted Interpol.
Police said they were continuing inquiries in New Zealand.
Stuff reported in August the father of the children, who were aged 5 and 8 at the time of his death, had died in 2017, a year before the mother is thought to have arrived in South Korea.
The names of the children and any identifying details have been suppressed at the request of the wider family and with the support of the police.
Police earlier said that was done as the investigation was at a ‘‘critical stage’’ and ‘‘any release may jeopardise’’ the ongoing investigation. Publication would ‘‘make too much media gossip’’ and affect the family’s privacy, a relative said in their application for suppression. The case had ‘‘too much media focus and it will make family life difficult’’, they said.
Police said the bodies of the two children were thought to have been in the suitcases for three to four years. They were placed in a storage unit at Safe Store Papatoetoe.
The contents of the unit were then bought at a storage unit auction by an unwitting family and taken home to their Clendon Park address. It was then the bodies were discovered.
Diane Lee, the co-president of the Korea-NZ Cultural Association, said the alleged murders were ‘‘tragic’’ and ‘‘sad’’. The Korean community had been waiting for the news of the arrest, she said.
‘‘People were waiting for the arrest of someone who did a terrible [thing],’’ she said.