South korea: South Korean authorities have arrested and deported a Thai drug trafficking suspect accused of running an international narcotics operation for more than 25 years to his home country, Seoul's spy agency said Tuesday. The 44-year-old suspect was apprehended at a hotel in southern Seoul the previous day and deported to Thailand earlier in the day at the request of Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB).

According to Yonhap News Agency, the suspect is accused of distributing large quantities of narcotics, including 11.5 tons of methamphetamine, 271 million yaba pills, and 5 tons of ketamine, across multiple countries. "The size is unprecedented for a single organization," an official from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said.

The methamphetamine could supply up to 380 million users, with an estimated value of 4.6 trillion won (US$3.1 billion), the NIS reported. The suspect had legally entered South Korea using a third-country passport and was staying in Seoul's Gangnam district.

Thai authorities had issued about 50 arrest warrants for the suspect over the past decade. However, he is believed to have continued his criminal activities while evading law enforcement, according to the Thai authorities.