`Yoo was hiding in secret closet’

The fugitive ferry was said to be hiding in here during the police search. (Yonhap)

Yoo Byung-eun, the fugitive blamed for the Sewol ferry disaster, was hiding inside a secret closet in his vacation home in Suncheon when investigators raided the place in May, the prosecution said Wednesday.

Prosecutors secured this testimony from a female employee of public relations firm Ahae Press, who was taken into custody during the raid. The woman, surnamed Shin, was accompanying Yoo and helping him hide out.

The house is about 2.5 kilometers away from where Yoo’s badly decomposed body was found on June 12.

Shin initially lied to investigators, saying Yoo had fled before the raid. However, she recently confessed that he hid himself in the closet hidden behind a wooden wall on the second floor when investigators were trying to enter, and stayed there until the search was finished.

Later, prosecutors revisited the holiday home and found two suitcases containing cash worth 830 million won ($810,705) and $160,000 in the closet, the prosecution said.

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