Former IKON leader B.I was finally booked as a suspect by police after the K-Pop star, reportedly, admitted to some suspicions in the 2016 drug case, where he, allegedly, attempted to purchase drugs from a supplier via Kakao Talk.
According to a report by Soompi, B.I went in for questioning at the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Police Agency on September 17, at around 9 am. At this point, he was invited under the status of someone who has information about the case as it revolved around allegations of the former IKON leader purchasing marijuana in 2016 and using it.
After 14 hours of questioning, it was reported that B.I admitted to some of the suspicions. Hence, he was booked as a suspect in the case for suspicions of violating the Act on the Control of Narcotics, and his case will be forwarded to the prosecution soon.
According to a report by All Kpop, the Act on the Control of Narcotics involves penalties on persons found "carrying, possessing, using, managing, exporting, importing, manufacturing, trading, assisting in the trade of, or giving or receiving, psychotropic drugs." Violations to the law could lead to penalties of imprisonment of not more than five years and penalties not exceeding 50 million won.
After this stage of the investigation, it is believed that the police will continue to gather evidence to build a case against B.I. After his case is forwarded to the prosecution, they will determine what charges will be filed against him.
B.I was, reportedly, released from the police station at around 11:30 p.m. and addressed the members of the press waiting for an update. The rapper issued a brief statement for the media and said, "I'm sorry for evoking criticism."
Former YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun Suk will also be questioned by the police in line with allegations that he tried to intimidate an informant who brought up B.I's case to authorities in 2016, which led to a disruption in the investigation.
It can be recalled that IKON leader B.I was dragged into the drug scandal after a Kakao Talk conversation between himself and a person called A was revealed to the media. The conversation involved B.I inquiring about how to purchase marijuana from A back in 2016. As a result, B.I decided to leave IKON and YG Entertainment to prevent the group and the company from being dragged into the scandal.
