The Varna Appellate Court has upheld a refusal by the Varna District Court to grant a request from the Justice Ministry of the Republic of Korea for the extradition of a foreign national, the Appellate Court said in a press release on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old woman is criminally prosecuted for trafficking psychotropic drugs.
On July 6, 2025, the woman together with a suspected female accomplice attempted to smuggle into South Korea over 39.8 kg of methamphetamine distributed in 20 packets. The two abandoned the suitcases checked-in in their names at the baggage baggage carousel of a South Korean airport and left the country.
The prosecution service launched an investigation, and the court in Suwon City issued an arrest warrant. The woman was first put on a national wanted list, and later on on an international wanted list. She holds German and Croatian nationality and has been identified at Varna Airport.
Considering that the woman is a dual national of EU Member States, the Varna District Court queried the authorities in the two countries whether they would issue a European Arrest Warrant (EAW), the press release pointed out. The Croatian prosecution service requested additional documents from the Korean authorities with a view to possibly issuing an EAW.
In its judgment, the intermediate-appellate-review panel noted that the extradition request received does not cite legal provisions defining the act and does not specify whether the two women “colluded”, whether the offence was completed or just attempted, or its consummation was voluntarily abandoned.
The appellate court’s judgment is final, and the woman was therefore released from custody and is no longer prohibited from leaving Bulgaria.
/LG/