Asia-Pacific Customs Authorities Join Forces to Combat Global Drug Trafficking

Experts in drug enforcement from customs authorities across the Asia-Pacific region are coming together to tackle global drug smuggling.

On the 8th, the Korea Customs Service announced that it will jointly host the "Asia-Pacific Customs Authorities Drug Enforcement Experts Workshop" with the World Customs Organization (WCO) in Seoul from the 8th to the 10th.

Lee Jong-wook, Director of the Customs Investigation Bureau, is delivering the opening remarks at the "Asia-Pacific Customs Authorities Drug Enforcement Experts Workshop" held in Seoul on the 8th. Photo by Korea Customs Service

The workshop is organized as a platform for officials from 12 Asia-Pacific customs authorities?including India, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Australia, Cambodia, China (Hong Kong), Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam?along with over 60 domestic drug enforcement experts to share the latest trends in drug smuggling and enforcement techniques.

In particular, the Korea Customs Service plans to conduct a joint drug enforcement operation in the Asia-Pacific region in the second half of this year and aims to encourage participation from Asia-Pacific countries during the workshop. Additionally, time will be allocated to share mutual strategies for the successful execution of the operation.

The joint enforcement in the second half of the year will be a continuation of last year's "Korea-ASEAN Joint Illegal Drug Enforcement Operation," with the scope of the operation expanding beyond the previous one.

The expansion of the operation's scope reflects the intensifying national threat to Asia-Pacific countries, as drug inflows from Central and South America have recently increased alongside the traditional Golden Triangle (Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, etc.) drug sources.

For example, last week, approximately 2 tons of cocaine were seized from a foreign trade vessel (Norwegian-flagged) arriving from Mexico at Okgyo Port in Gangneung City. Furthermore, advanced drug concealment methods using encrypted apps, the dark web, cryptocurrency, and 3D printing technology heighten the need for joint responses from Asia-Pacific customs authorities.

Lee Jong-wook, Director of the Korea Customs Service Investigation Bureau, stated, "The workshop is intended to foster mutual understanding of the importance of cooperation (information exchange) between customs authorities of major transit and final consumer countries of drugs, and to share experiences from joint enforcement operations accumulated by each country." He added, "The Korea Customs Service will do its utmost to ensure the successful completion of the joint drug enforcement operation planned for the second half of this year."

Meanwhile, the WCO is an international organization based in Brussels, Belgium, where 178 member countries discuss customs policies related to trade facilitation, investigation and surveillance, and supply chain security.