pound(s)6.2m cash stash found buried in garlic field

POLICE in South Korea have dug up a cash hoard worth pound(s)6.2million that had been buried in a garlic field.

The money is thought to be the proceeds of an illegal internetgambling operation, for which one of two brothers is in jail.

Their brother-in-law helped out by burying the cash, and thenhelped himself to some of it, police said.

When he then accused a landscaper of stealing a chunk of cash,police moved in and unearthed it, they said.

Television footage has shown police officers pulling out twodozen containers, each brimming with cash.

According to the police version of the story, the brother-in-law, a 52-year-old man identified only as Mr Lee, bought the garlicfield in south-western Gimje.

His gambling relatives had felt pressured by policeinvestigations and asked for his help in hiding the money. He workedat dusk and dawn, as if farming, to bury the containers.

His own greed led to his downfall however, police say. First hedug up about 400 million won and spent it, without telling thebrothers he had helped himself.

Then he tried to blame a workman who was helping to landscape theplot; that man complained about being accused, leading police to thefield.

The 11 billion won was allegedly from an illegal internetgambling site in South Korea.