August 18, 2009
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korean police have arrested a man accused of hiring two hitmen to murder his adoptive mother, reports said Tuesday.
Police allege the son, identified only as Lee, found the killers online. He allegedly paid them 130 million won (103,000 dollars) to suffocate the woman who had raised him for over 30 years after finding him abandoned as a baby.
Investigators quoted by the Korea Times and JoongAng Daily said Lee, a gambling addict, decided to kill his mother after she refused to give him any more of her property.
Lee claimed the 70-year-old died of diabetes. He inherited property and insurance money totalling two billion won, but squandered 1.5 billion of this on gambling.
Lee was arrested after friends and relatives of the deceased, along with the insurance firm, raised suspicions. Police said Lee and the hitmen would be charged with murder.
