a police raid was conducted at a sprawling church compound Wednesday in their hunt for a billionaire businessman believed to be the de-facto owner of the sunken Sewol ferry that caused the lives of over 300 people. According to officials, thousands of police officers had stormed the compound believed to have hidden Yoo Byung-eun.
Yoo has been sought by police as he was touted to be the reason for the ship's state of condition due to his alleged corruption, which could have contibruted to one of the biggest maritime disasters in the country. Yoo has been hunted by prosecutors and police for weeks, with the South Korean government offering a half-a-million-dollar reward for information about his whereabouts, AP said.
The police's search at the Evangelical Baptist Church, believed to be a cult by critics was due to the fact that the 73 year-old entrepreneur is a member.
Unnamed police officers, who told AP on the condition of anonymity due to department policy, said around 5,000 of them had raided the compound of the church group in Anseong, just south of Seoul. Some of the officers had worn helmets and armed themselves with plastic shields.
Police have said that four of the church's members were detained on charges that they have provided Yoo shelter or have aided the businessmen to flee. Another member was also detained for supposedly attempting to obstruct the police raid. Police fell short of saying whether Yoo was actually at the premises at the time of the raid, but promised to provide more details as they try to obtain answers and detain more church members for aiding Yoo.
AP said Yoo is the head of the now-defunct predecessor of the ferry's current operator, Chonghaejin. Yoo is said to have retained control of the company via a complicated web of holding companies of which his children and close associates are majority shareholders. Last month, Yoo's daughter has been arrested in France. A hundred thousand-dollar bounty was also set in place for Yoo's eldest son.
