“Duty-Free Goods Switch Without Return” Gang Smuggling Liquor and Cigarettes Caught

A group involved in smuggling duty-free liquor and cigarettes to profit from price differences has been caught and sent to the prosecution.

The Incheon Airport Customs Headquarters of the Korea Customs Service and the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office announced on the 1st that they have identified and indicted five individuals (1 detained, 3 detained and indicted, 1 indicted without detention) on charges of smuggling 700,000 packs of duty-free cigarettes (worth approximately 3.58 billion KRW) and 1,110 bottles of duty-free liquor (worth approximately 360 million KRW).

They are also accused of attempting to secretly bring in an additional 400,000 packs of duty-free cigarettes (worth approximately 3.58 billion KRW) beyond the actual smuggled goods.

According to Incheon Customs and the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, the group conspired to resell the smuggled duty-free goods, which were imported without customs duties, at high margins to gain profits.

Overview of Duty-Free Goods Smuggling Crime. Provided by Incheon Airport Customs Headquarters and Incheon District Prosecutors' Office.

The method involved purchasing duty-free goods under the name of Chinese peddlers at domestic duty-free shops, completing re-export declaration for returned goods, but in reality, bringing the items packaged in export boxes into a warehouse within the Incheon Airport Free Trade Zone, then swapping them with counterfeit export boxes of similar appearance prepared in advance to divert the duty-free goods into the domestic market.

Authorities judged that the group exploited the fact that returned export duty-free goods could pass through intermediate warehouses due to flight schedules or other reasons during the process of being shipped out from airport or port cargo terminals.

In particular, despite being under investigation after being caught in 2022 for swapping duty-free goods with bottled water, the group continued their crimes by cleverly evading surveillance, even producing fake cigarette boxes.

Furthermore, the first three individuals caught conspired in advance to deny the crimes, concealed the existence of the ringleader, deleted mobile phone data, and submitted fake documents, thereby obstructing legitimate judicial procedures.

Duty-free Chinese cigarettes hidden for smuggling are stored in a container. Provided by Incheon Airport Customs Headquarters and Incheon District Prosecutors' Office

As the customs investigation tightened, the ringleader also obstructed the investigation by recruiting an unrelated individual as a so-called front man and bribing him to make false confessions.

However, based on warehouse CCTV footage secured by Incheon Customs, the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office confirmed the 'swapping' scenes, detained three individuals, and, in cooperation with Incheon Customs, detained one ringleader, thereby uncovering the full extent of the crime.

During this process, the two agencies seized 310,000 packs of Chinese-made duty-free cigarettes and 9.6 million bottles of duty-free liquor, and confiscated assets worth approximately 140 million KRW, including seven vehicles owned by the smuggling group, recovering the criminal proceeds.

Officials from Incheon Airport and the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office stated, “As agencies overseeing Incheon International Airport at the border stage, we plan to strengthen mutual cooperation to strictly punish and prevent customs crimes such as smuggling that disrupt customs procedures and the domestic market order.”