Busan Customs Seizes Record 2.8 Billion KRW Worth of 6.4 Million Cigarette Packs in Smuggling Bust

Disguised as Transshipment Cargo by Cheaply Purchasing in Southeast Asia and Swapping with Travel Bags

Boxes of domestic cigarettes piled up in a warehouse. A group smuggling domestic cigarettes exported to Southeast Asia disguised as transshipment cargo was caught by Busan Customs.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kang Sharon] A group that disguised 640,000 packs of domestic cigarettes worth 2.8 billion KRW as Southeast Asian export goods and then brought them back to Busan was caught by customs. This is the largest single cigarette smuggling quantity ever seized by the Busan Regional Customs Office.

According to the Busan Regional Customs Office on the 14th, Mr. A was arrested on charges of smuggling by disguising domestic cigarettes exported to Vietnam and Thailand as transshipment cargo passing through Busan Port to China. Accomplice Mr. B, who fled, was also sent without detention and is being tracked.

Mr. A’s group purchased large quantities of domestic cigarettes officially exported to Vietnam and Thailand locally, loaded them into containers, and sent them to Cambodia. In Cambodia, the product name was changed from cigarettes to travel bags, and they were brought into Bukhang of Busan Port disguised as transshipment cargo heading to China via Korea.

They diverted the smuggled cigarettes to a secret warehouse in Gangseo-gu, Busan, while transporting containers from Bukhang to the New Port of Busan, claiming they were transferring them to a ship bound for China.

They were caught by customs officers who were tracking them during the process of loading travel bags, which they intended to swap for the cigarettes, into the container.

It was revealed that they bought the cigarettes in Southeast Asia at 1,000 KRW per pack, much cheaper than the domestic retail price of 4,500 KRW per pack.

The Busan Customs Office explained, “This seizure prevented unfair profits worth about 500 million KRW and a national treasury loss amounting to 2.1 billion KRW.” All seized cigarettes will be incinerated.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.