An active pharmacist was caught by customs authorities for smuggling narcotic drugs and other pharmaceuticals into the country.
Busan Customs of the Korea Customs Service recently revealed on the 2nd that Mr. A (40) was caught on charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act and Customs Act and was sent to prosecution without detention.
According to Busan Customs, Mr. A is suspected of smuggling 1,260 tablets of Zolpidem and 22,330 tablets of Tylenol. Zolpidem is classified as a narcotic (psychotropic drug) under Article 2, Paragraph 3, Subparagraph (d) of the Narcotics Control Act, and its possession, use, export, and import are prohibited or restricted.
Busan Customs took over the investigation last September from Incheon Airport Customs, which had detected international mail containing Zolpidem (360 tablets from the UK and 500 tablets from India) during the customs clearance process.
During the investigation, the Busan Customs investigation team confirmed that the actual recipient of the items was Mr. A, a pharmacist operating a pharmacy in the Gyeongnam region, and uncovered additional offenses where Mr. A smuggled 400 tablets of Zolpidem from India in 2023 using the same method.
It was confirmed that Mr. A knowingly smuggled Zolpidem, a prescription-only medicine that can only be purchased with a doctor's prescription, by directly purchasing it from overseas pharmaceutical sales websites simply to obtain it easily and smuggling it into the country.
The Busan Customs investigation team also revealed that Mr. A distributed the pharmaceuticals domestically by using his status as a pharmacist after purchasing the drugs through overseas direct purchase without obtaining official import permission.
The investigation found that from April 2022 to January 2023, Mr. A illegally imported approximately 22,000 tablets of Tylenol (acetaminophen) from the United States in 13 installments (each installment consisting of 290 tablets * 6 bottles) under the pretense of personal use and distributed them domestically through exchanges between pharmacies.
“Exchange” refers to a transaction method where pharmacists operating pharmacies exchange necessary medicines with each other. However, in this case, to prevent abnormal distribution and use of pharmaceuticals, it is only exceptionally allowed for urgent dispensing or business closure reasons. Mr. A had no grounds to conduct such exchanges.
Busan Customs requested the Korea Communications Standards Commission to block the website that sold the narcotics and plans to continuously monitor whether illegal narcotics and pharmaceuticals are being smuggled and distributed domestically using similar methods as in Mr. A’s case.
A Busan Customs official stated, “Pharmaceuticals are directly related to public safety (health), so more thorough management and a strong spirit of compliance are required,” adding, “Customs will continue to strictly block illegal narcotics and overseas pharmaceuticals from being smuggled into the country to establish order in import-export customs clearance and protect public health.”
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