A South Korean man linked to a North Korean spy ship that sank off Amami-Oshima Island after a shootout with the Japan Coast Guard in December 2001 has received deposits of several million yen from people connected to gangsters, sources have said.

The sources said Thursday that police believe U Si Yun, 57, might be involved in drug dealing. The people who deposited cash into U's bank accounts, including a senior mobster, have been involved in past drug transactions, they said, noting large sums of money repeatedly have been transmitted to U.

U was arrested Sunday for allegedly buying cars from a theft ring that he knew were stolen. Police suspect he was planning to ship the vehicles to North Korea.

Investigators linked U with the sunken vessel after the records of a mobile phone recovered from the ship showed calls had been made to his relatives, the sources said. The ship was salvaged in 2002.

According to an investigation, several deposits of up to about 10 million yen were deposited in U's bank accounts, including about 8 million yen by the senior gang member from the city of Fukuoka in August 1998 and 10 million yen from a man in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, last April.

Investigators had earlier discovered 135 phone calls recorded on the records of the mobile phone retrieved from the vessel that used a prepaid card system. Some of those calls were made to the homes of U's relatives, according to the sources, while other numbers listed were connected to underworld members.