Actor Yoo Ah-in leaves the Seoul Central District Court after attending a hearing to review the legality of his detention over allegations of illegal drug use, Sept. 21. Korea Times photo by Kim Ye-won

Prosecutors on Thursday indicted actor Yoo Ah-in for habitually using illegal drugs, nearly a month after an arrest warrant for him was dismissed for the second time.

The 37-year-old actor, who was not detained, is accused of getting injections of propofol and other medical drugs on 181 occasions at clinics across Seoul since 2020 under the pretext of having cosmetic procedures.

Yoo, whose legal name is Uhm Hong-sik, reportedly took four types of medical drugs: propofol, midazolam, ketamine and remimazolam.

The actor is also charged with allegedly using other people's names to illegally purchase some 1,100 sleeping pills on 44 occasions, smoking marijuana with four people and coercing others to take the narcotics in the United States in January.

The police filed an arrest warrant for Yoo in May, but the court rejected the warrant, saying Yoo is unlikely to destroy evidence or flee.

Prosecutors in June sought an arrest warrant for him for the second time,adding additional charges of attempting to have evidence destroyed and abetting people to smoke marijuana.

The court, however, dismissed the request, saying sufficient evidence of the crime had been secured, and some of the charges against Yoo are still up for debate. (Yonhap)