Drug Suspect Plays It Cool With Police : Returns to Station, Says He’s U.N. Agent

Andrew Kim was cool. The Monterey Park police give him that.

But they were just not comfortable with his story that he is a top law enforcement agent for the United Nations and that the sniper rifles, ammunition, drugs and more than $300,000 in cash they found in his car were connected to a case he was working on.

Kim even presented a “U.N. Asian Criminal Police Department” business card when he asked that the stuff be returned to him.

In the first place, Sgt. Victor Peluso said Wednesday, “there’s no such thing as the United Nations Asian Criminal Police Department. We checked.”

That is why Kim, a 26-year-old Korean national, is being held as a suspected drug peddler, with bail set at $2 million, and why Polly Or, who accompanied Kim to the Monterey Park Police Station, was also arrested.

‘Kind of Different’

“This one was kind of different,” Peluso said. “The guy is arrested with weapons, bails out and comes back two days later with a loaded automatic to talk to the captain and lieutenant right in the chief’s office. It doesn’t happen every day.”

Kim’s first arrest was Dec. 17, when Monterey Park Officer William Young and a reserve officer partner stopped him for a minor traffic violation and found him with an expired automobile registration certificate and no identification.

Police said they found in Kim’s car a loaded revolver, several boxes of ammunition, a wig and a small amount of illegal drugs. They booked him for investigation of robbery and drug possession.

Kim was released on bail, leaving behind his car and what officers said was a phony address.

Two days later, officers searched his car and reportedly discovered three sniper rifles, several hundred rounds of ammunition and a large briefcase. Police got a search warrant for two sealed packages in the vehicle, quickly finding $326,000 in cash, another loaded handgun and 3 kilograms of methamphetamines.

Peluso said officers were surprised when Kim called up to make an appointment, then showed up on Dec. 20 with Or, a former International Daily News reporter well known in the San Gabriel Valley’s Asian community. Kim presented his card and asked that the officers give him back his things, Peluso said.

Or also claimed to belong to the supposed U.N. police organization, he said.

“It was a very bold move,” Peluso said. “ ‘Bold’ would be a mild word to describe it.”

The sergeant said Kim was “more or less businesslike.”

“He indicated that he was the agent in charge of 200 other agents in the Asian Criminal Police Department, which he said was a branch of the United Nations. He said they deal in international crime activity,” Peluso said.

In It Together

Kim’s attitude, recalled Peluso, was “sort of, ‘We’re all in law enforcement together, so there should be no problem.’ ”

“He said in a roundabout way that all that stuff we confiscated from him was in conjunction with a case he was working,” Peluso said.

What really troubled the Monterey Park officers, the sergeant said, was the fact that Kim had a loaded semiautomatic pistol in his briefcase while he chatted with them.

When they arrested him again, Kim offered no resistance, Peluso said, but “acted like he was kind of in shock that anyone would dare do this to him.”

Nevertheless, they did.

This time it was on suspicion of drug trafficking and transportation of drugs.

His companion was booked on suspicion of fraudulently obtaining the property of others. She bailed out and faces a preliminary hearing next month, police said.