Drug Crimes Across the Country... Police to Prevent Domestic Spread

Preventing the Spread of Drug Distribution
Pre-Indictment Seizure, Forfeiture, and Preservation Requests Also Applied

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Sehee] Recently, as drug-related crimes have been repeatedly uncovered, the police plan to conduct intensive crackdowns to prevent the spread of drug distribution.

According to the police on the 23rd, the Songpa Police Station in Seoul arrested Kim (31) on the spot for possession of drugs. Kim received a package suspected to contain drugs at a hotel in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul. The police seized his mobile phone, one bag of methamphetamine (15g), and dozens of syringes.

On the 9th, a man in his 30s who injected drugs himself and reported to 112 was caught by the police on the spot. On the 1st of last month, a Vietnamese national named A was arrested by the police for taking ecstasy at a nightclub.

The police stated that, as drug crimes are occurring nationwide, they will take measures to prevent the spread of drug distribution.

The National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Headquarters plans to intensively crack down on drug offenders for three months from the 1st to May 31. First, about 1,150 dedicated personnel specializing in drug cases, as well as all detectives nationwide, will be deployed.

The number of drug offenders arrested recently was 8,107 in 2018, 10,411 in 2019, 12,209 in 2020, and 10,626 in 2021. The amount of methamphetamine seized was 14.3 kg in 2017, 101.9 kg in 2018, 9.5 kg in 2019, 24.5 kg in 2020, and 65.6 kg in 2021.

The main targets of the crackdown are ▲ drug smuggling offenders organized by criminal groups ▲ non-face-to-face distribution offenders using the internet (dark web) and virtual assets ▲ distribution and drug use by foreign nationals residing in Korea.

In particular, the scale of drugs smuggled overseas from Korea has also increased significantly recently. According to the Korea Customs Service’s “Recent 5-Year Drug Smuggling Crackdown Status” data, the total number of smuggling cases including smuggling into Korea reached 3,548 over five years, with a weight of 1,911 kg and an estimated value of 2.1624 trillion KRW.

Meanwhile, the police announced their policy to completely block the channels of criminal proceeds through seizure, confiscation, and preservation before prosecution.