[Report] "Finding Hidden Drugs... 220,000 Cases Thoroughly Investigated Daily"

Report from the Frontline of Drug Detection at Incheon Airport Express Center
X-ray, Specialized Investigation Team, and Drug Detection Dogs Conduct Layered Inspections
Significant Increase in Cargo Volume... Labor Shortage Remains a Challenge to Solve

On the 14th, cargo arriving at the Incheon Airport Customs Express Logistics Center is passing through the X-ray scanner.

"We examine every single item that comes in, without leaving anything out, with 220,000 items arriving daily."

On the morning of the 14th, the X-ray reading room inside the Incheon Airport Headquarters Customs Express Logistics Center was filled with a tense atmosphere. All express shipments entering the country must pass through this place. It serves as a primary checkpoint to detect and filter out any suspicious items such as smuggled drugs or counterfeit luxury goods.

About 40 X-ray reading team staff members silently focused on the images displayed on dozens of screens surrounding the reading room walls. It is rare to hear even a small noise here. High concentration is required to not miss a single moment of the images that pass by in just a few seconds. No one in this room full of dozens of people breaks the silence. While other Customs officials rotate positions as a general rule, the personnel in the X-ray reading room only change their workplace but not their duties. This is truly the domain of 'veterans.'

On the 14th, employees are conducting inspections in the X-ray reading room at the Incheon Airport Customs Express Logistics Center.

Recently, as the volume of shipments has sharply increased, the tension has also intensified. The average daily volume at the Express Logistics Center surged 32.7% from 165,000 items in 2022 to 219,000 items last year. Yoon Yeon-mi, the supervisor of the Express Customs Clearance 1 Division and the X-ray reading room, said, "Since the end of last year, the volume from platforms like China's AliExpress and Temu has rapidly increased, causing the number of items we need to inspect daily to rise sharply. However, it is impossible to open and check each of these hundreds of thousands of items individually, so the X-ray reading room must perform its role as an accurate checkpoint properly."

Cargo flagged as suspicious in the reading room is moved via conveyor belt to the third floor of the center. Here, the intelligence analysis team, specialized in drug detection, conducts more detailed inspections. They first remove all packaging to check the contents. As smuggling methods have become more sophisticated recently, the staff have become more cautious.

Jo Ju-seong, head of the intelligence analysis team, explained, "In the past, drugs were smuggled in small amounts hidden inside other items, but recently the methods have become bolder. They often come in large quantities disguised as normal goods in various containers, so while the number of seizures has decreased, the weight of seized drugs has sharply increased." According to Customs data, the number of drug seizures decreased from 890 cases in 2021 to 652 in 2022 and 567 in 2023, but the weight of seized drugs increased from 386 kg to 662 kg during the same period.

On the 14th, the Customs Information Analysis Team at the Incheon Airport Customs Express Logistics Center is investigating suspected drug items.

For items that are difficult to judge by sight, touch, or smell even after unpacking, various equipment is used for analysis. The ion scanner, which sensitively detects traces of drug substances, is a representative example. When Jo applied detection chemicals to the equipment and rubbed it on a package before scanning it with the ion scanner, the result came back clear within 5 seconds.

Nevertheless, suspicious items are also checked using drug detection dogs. Shortly after, the drug detection dog "Dillon" wagged its tail and rushed toward a pile of suspicious cargo. Dillon, trained and developed to detect even 0.5 grams of drugs, quickly scanned the items. Because it can instantly detect the scent of drugs, it can inspect a large volume of cargo in about 30 minutes. Park Dong-min, a supervisor in the Drug Investigation 1 Division who has worked with drug detection dogs for over 20 years, explained, "These dogs have such a keen sense of smell that they can track even faint odors left in the anus of foreigners who swallowed sealed marijuana to smuggle it in."

Incheon Airport Customs' drug detection dog 'Dillon' is detecting drugs at the express cargo center on the 14th.

Although the Customs Service established the "Special Task Force for Drug Smuggling Countermeasures" last October and is actively fighting the war on drugs, the field still struggles with manpower shortages. While the volume of shipments is rapidly increasing, it is difficult to quickly recruit personnel due to the nature of the government organization. According to Customs, there are currently about 180 customs inspection personnel working nationwide. Considering the recent surge in drug smuggling and cargo volume, this number is widely regarded as insufficient.