100kg Substance Found Underneath Cargo Ship Departed from Brazil

Discovered During Shipping Inspection... Coast Guard "Investigating Drug Smuggling Route"

A drug suspected to be cocaine worth approximately 350 billion won was discovered on a Korean cargo ship that departed from Brazil and entered Busan New Port, prompting the Coast Guard to launch an investigation. This amount is enough for 3.3 million people to use simultaneously.

The Southern Sea Regional Coast Guard announced on the 16th that at around 3:35 PM the previous day, the Coast Guard seized about 100 kg of a substance suspected to be cocaine from cargo ship A (70,000-ton class, domestically registered) docked at Busan New Port.

On the 15th, officials from the Namhae Maritime Police Agency seized suspected cocaine substances found on the domestic-registered cargo ship A, which arrived at Busan New Port. [Photo by Namhae Maritime Police Agency]

A rapid test kit showed a positive reaction for cocaine. The Coast Guard plans to request an urgent analysis from the National Forensic Service for a more accurate substance examination. The bag containing the drugs was found hidden inside a pipe of the ship’s internal cooling water discharge outlet.

Ship A departed from a port in Brazil in early last month, stopped by Singapore and Hong Kong, and arrived at Busan New Port on the 15th. During an inspection of the ship’s bottom, the Coast Guard was alerted to a suspicious drug substance in the sea chest located beneath the hull and seized the drugs. The sea chest refers to the intake located on the bottom surface of the ship for cooling the main engine.

Discovered Drugs
Photo by Namhae Regional Coast Guard Headquarters

At the time of discovery, the substance suspected to be cocaine was divided into 100 pieces of about 1 kg each, hidden in three black bags. The Coast Guard has requested an urgent analysis from the National Forensic Service for precise substance identification and is investigating the drug smuggling route targeting the crew members.

In recent years, a significant amount of drugs has been seized at Busan Port. In 2019, 63 kg of cocaine was found on a container ship traveling from Mexico to China via Busan. In 2020, a Russian mafia group was caught smuggling 4 kg of hashish worth 400 million won. Additionally, in 2021, the largest-ever seizure of 400 kg of cocaine was made from a cargo ship coming from Latin America.